Fire Rekindled
by hkfoot
Summary: Zoisite is reborn as an orphan in the era of Crystal Tokyo, without any memories of his previous life. Then the senshi intervene... Zoisite x Kunzite
1. Default Chapter

Fire Rekindled  
by Zoisaito no Kage

Chapter One

"Kaiou-sama is making a special visit to see us again this afternoon, so behave yourselves," said Kawada.

Twenty or so children cheered, with good reason. A week ago, the same lady had visited their orphanage with toys and candy, art supplies and clothing and all sorts of good things that they had only dreamed of before Kaiou Michiru's visit. Not only that, but she had also thrilled them with a remarkable violin performance and delighted them with her friendly company.

Perhaps only two children in the whole assembly greeted this announcement in silence. Unlike the older child, whose fair features were currently marred by a scowl, the younger one was smiling. That smile quickly faded, however, when he looked up at the older child. He assessed the older child's countenance, then spoke.

"Ne…Zoisaito-oniisama…"

Zoisite, the older boy, had wavy copper-blond hair that fell below his shoulders. His face, featuring two green eyes offset by pale, smooth skin, could only be described as pretty, and as a result, he had spent more time than he had ever wanted fighting with those children who teased him on that account.

As he looked down at the boy who addressed him, his scowl lessened into a frown. "What?" He wasn't really the younger boy's brother, but being called "oniisama" had long since ceased to bother him. In fact, he would have found it strange if the boy suddenly stopped addressing him as "oniisama."

"Ano…I heard some of the kids talking…What's Sailorneptune?"

Shiitake, the younger boy, was only five. In the past several months since they had met, Zoisite had gotten used to the boy's appalling lack of knowledge regarding the world. Zoisite was ten.

"Sailorneptune is one of the legendary Sailorsenshi who protect Neo-Queen Serenity and Crystal Tokyo, and the Earth in general. There was a big war about ten years ago with the Dark Moon, and the senshi protected the Earth then."

"Oh." Shiitake nodded. "And Kaiou-sama is Sailorneptune?"

"Yes."

"And so…" Shiitake paused, unsure of how long his oniisama's patience would last today. Sometimes Zoisite didn't like it when he asked too many questions. However, he forged ahead with the curiosity of any typical five-year old. "Does oniisama not like Sailorneptune? Or does he not like Kaiou-sama?"

Zoisite gave a start, and he found himself staring at the top of Shiitake's neatly combed dark brown hair curiously. Perhaps he had underestimated the boy's perceptiveness, he mused. The head he was staring at turned upwards and he found himself looking at two large brown eyes. He recovered himself.

"First of all, Sailorneptune and Kaiou-sama are the same person. Second of all, what makes you think that I don't like one or the other?" Zoisite said, his tone unintentionally growing defensive as he spoke.

Shiitake hung his head. "Gomen nasai, oniisama." He stole a quick glance at his oniisama. Zoisite didn't look mad, he realized.

Zoisite shook his head, trying to dispel Shiitake's misunderstanding. Actually, the child was a bit over perceptive when it came to him, he thought wryly. "What were you going to say?" he asked.

"Well…It's just that oniisama tried to stay far away from Kaiou-sama last time she came, and so…it seemed like oniisama didn't like her. But it seems like everyone else likes her, and the other kids say she's nice and everything…So I wondered if maybe oniisama didn't like her because she was Sailorneptune. But I guess that doesn't make sense either, if Sailorneptune helps protect the queen and the Earth…" Shiitake fell silent, but just as Zoisite was about to make some reply, the younger boy spoke again.

"Oniisama, did you notice that Kaiou-sama kept looking at you?"

"Looking at me?" Zoisite hadn't noticed.

Shiitake nodded. "One of the kids told me that she even asked about you."

"Why would she do that?"

"I think it's because Kaiou-sama…well…I mean, oniisama…" Shiitake trailed off, unable to bring himself to voice the idea that had entered his mind.

"Never mind," he said a moment later, and his voice trembled. He stared hard at the ground.

"What is it?"

"Nothing…" It came out as a whisper.

"Tell me." Zoisite felt like the boy had something important to say, and he was determined to have it out.

Shiitake took a quivering breath and spoke. "It's just that…I think…Kaiou-sama…wants…" The boy's shoulders shook, and his quiet voice was cut off by a sudden sob. He wiped his eyes furiously with his dirty sleeve, but it didn't stop his tears. "Gomen nasai, oniisama," Shiitake managed to whisper between silent sobs.

Zoisite sighed at the interruption. "Don't be silly," he said, and he led his crying companion from the fringes of the crowded playground to the now-deserted bedroom that all the boys shared.

It had been months since Zoisite had seen the boy cry. When Shiitake first arrived at the orphanage after being shuffled through a pack of relatives that didn't want or couldn't take care of him, he had cried all day and all night, to the misery of all his new roommates. The next day, however, he discovered Zoisite, and he clung to him as if he were his lifeline, following the older boy everywhere.

It had taken weeks for Zoisite to accept him. To Zoisite, who had always been alone, and whose attitude toward his peers ranged from indifference to hostility, the young boy was like a barnacle that had attached itself to his side. Zoisite had done everything he could think of to make the boy understand that he was not welcome, but Shiitake was tenacious, Shiitake was loyal. For one reason or another, he believed in Zoisite, and slowly, Zoisite came to like the boy, his shadow, his mushroom-headed follower.

Now Zoisite knelt to be at eye-level with his young companion. The boy's eyes had become red and puffy, and his cheeks were smeared with tears that flooded nonstop from his eyes. His breaths had become short and shaky, and his nose was in dire need of a tissue. In fact, his whole face was.

"Don't use your sleeve to wipe your face," Zoisite chided. He found some tissues and gave them to the crying boy. Then he waited.

Of course he could have done more—given the boy a hug, or said a comforting word—but he couldn't bring himself to do any of that. He was only Shiitake's pretend-older brother, not his mother, after all.

And so Zoisite waited, and eventually, the hiccupping sobs and sniffles subsided.

"Go-gomen nasai, oniisama." Shiitake wiped his face one more time on an already damp tissue.

"Idiot," Zoisite said. "What were you crying about?"

"I…I don't want oniisama to disappear."

Zoisite laughed. He couldn't help himself. Shiitake was being too ridiculous.

"Oniisama?" Zoisite heard the tremor in the boy's question, and he composed himself and replied seriously.

"Look here, Shiitake-kun. There's no way Kaiou-sama would adopt me. What would she want with me anyway? If anyone, she should adopt someone as nice and cute as you, ne?" Zoisite concentrated, and a moment later, he held a handful of sakura petals, which he sprinkled into the younger boy's hand.

Shiitake-kun smiled weakly at the familiar display of magic (he'd never seen anyone but his oniisama do magic – that was one reason he knew his oniisama was special), but he remained gloomy and clung to Zoisite for the rest of the morning.

-----------------

It was funny how children could be right about the most important things, Zoisite later reflected.

As expected, Kaiou Michiru visited the orphanage again that afternoon, bringing another sizeable donation of toys, food, clothing, and money. Today, however, she proceeded directly with business, only giving a short greeting to the children who had crowded together and were watching her with wide, wondering eyes. She followed the orphanage's director, Kawada, into the office, and behind the closed door, the two remained for about ten minutes.

"It's not usual for us to approve an adoption this quickly, Kaiou-sama, but as there's no doubt he'll be taken care of, you may have him as soon as today, if you wish," Kawada said.

-----------------

Zoisite leaned against the dirty white wall of the hallway, just close enough to keep an eye on the office door. He wondered why he was bothering, but he recalled the conclusion of his conversation with Shiitake.

_"So oniisama really doesn't like Kaiou-sama? Even though she brought presents for everyone?"_

_"No, I don't," Zoisite snapped, agitated by the subject of their conversation. "She's rich, she's powerful, she's Sailorneptune, and a person like her has no business here."_

_"Okay…but why not?" _

_Zoisite fidgeted. How was he supposed to explain that he just had this _feeling_ that repelled him from her? And on top of that, she just acted too nice. It wasn't right. "We don't need her charity," he muttered. He eyed Shiitake, wondering if the boy would continue questioning him._

_"But maybe it's not just charity. What if she wants to ad…a…"_

_"Adopt?"_

_Shiitake nodded. "Adopt. That's why most grown ups come here, isn't it? To take one of us away?"_

_Zoisite didn't answer. He had tried to dismiss the possibility, but if what Shiitake had said earlier about Kaiou Michiru was true…No, it wouldn't make sense if she chose him, he told himself. _

_"Zoisaito-oniisama…I don't want to be alone again," Shiitake said._

_"You won't be," Zoisite told the younger boy. "As I said before, I'm the last person here that she would want to adopt. Don't worry." _

_"But-"_

_"Stop thinking about such things.__ Just wait until this afternoon and you'll see." And Zoisite ruffled the boy's hair._

So he had said. Really, there was no reason that he could think of as to why Kaiou Michiru would want to adopt him over any other child. Shiitake was imagining things. No one had wanted him from the time he was born. He had been at the orphanage as far back as he could remember, and while others had come and gone, he had stayed, unwanted. There was no reason to think that today would be any different. Besides, he didn't like Kaiou Michiru, and to abandon Shiitake for that woman was something he would never do.

That didn't explain why he felt so uneasy, and why he found himself worried enough to keep a watch on Kawada's office.

"Oniisama?"

Zoisite jumped. Shiitake had approached him from behind, and he hadn't noticed. "Why are you here?!" he hissed.

Shiitake shrugged and looked at his feet. "I didn't know where oniisama was. I was worried."

"Well, Kaiou-sama's in the office talking to Kawada-san, so I don't know anything yet."

The office door creaked open, and Zoisite hid himself around the corner, pulling Shiitake out of sight with him.

"Is that you, Shiitake-kun?" Kawada's voice drifted down the hallway.

"_Shimatta_, you were seen," Zoisite said, irked. "Well, go answer her."

Shiitake stepped back around the corner. "Hai."

"Please go find Zoisaito-kun and tell him to come to the office. Kaiou-sama wishes to see him."

"Okay," Shiitake answered, then returned around the corner to Zoisite, the question apparent in his worried eyes. "Oniisama…?"

So the unthinkable was going to happen, it seemed. Zoisite found himself smiling grimly, surprised, but at the same time, not. "Well, I hardly think she want to see me just to offer me cookies."

Zoisite gazed at an ant crawling along the wall, following its steady progress until it disappeared into a crack. For a moment longer, he remained lost in thought, but then he laughed shortly, startling the child next to him who awaited his answer. "You know, Shiitake-kun, I don't really care why Kaiou Michiru wishes to see me. It's about time I left this place anyway."

"Zoisaito-oniisama…" Shiitake stared at the older boy. "Are you going to see Kaiou-sama?"

"Of course not. I'm running away." Zoisite grinned, feeling more exhilarated than he had for a long time. "Make up some excuse to Kawada-san for me in the meantime."

"Will you come back?" Shiitake still didn't know if he should be glad or worried.

Zoisite's answer relieved him. "Of course I'll come back for you, mushroom head. See you." He waved farewell to the younger boy, then jogged down the hall toward the back door.

Shiitake waited for about ten minutes, then went to the office. "Ano…Kawada-san, Kaiou-sama…Zoisaito-oniisama said he can't come right now, but he'll come as soon as he can, because oniisama is, well, sweeping the bathroom."

"He's doing his chores early?" Kawada looked skeptical.

"What's wrong with that?" Shiitake defended. It had been the best excuse he could come up with that wouldn't make the orphanage's director immediately suspicious.

"You're Shiitake-kun?" Kaiou Michiru asked.

Shiitake nodded.

"Why do you call Zoisaito-kun your 'oniisama'?" Kaiou Michiru was intrigued, and Shiitake, caught by her gentle eyes and soft smile, answered her question.

-----------------

Zoisite ran from the orphanage through a hidden route that he had discovered a few years ago. Where he would go from there, he wasn't sure, but he kept running. The road he was on, while deserted, would soon lead to town, and although no one would recognize him, he didn't want to be seen. If people saw him, it would only be too easy for Kawada and Kaiou Michiru to track him down. He turned off the road and into the woods.

His pace soon slowed, and for the next fifteen minutes he half jogged, half stumbled through the wood. As he passed by a cave, he stopped to catch his breath. He could rest there, at least for a few minutes, couldn't he?

'But it's too obvious,' Zoisite thought. He could be found if he didn't get farther away, and he didn't know how much time he had left before the others began searching for him. He was about to continue on when a deep voice stopped him.

"Why don't you come in?"

Zoisite turned and saw that a boy, probably at least five years older than himself, had emerged from the shadows of the cave. The older boy, who was now looking at him with sharp gray-silver-icy blue eyes (given their distance, Zoisite couldn't be sure what color they were), had long, white hair and wore a gray outfit that looked like a military uniform, complete with a white and lavender cape.

Immediately on guard, Zoisite asked, "Who are you?"

The other boy watched him for another moment, then frowned, saying, "You wouldn't know, I suppose…" He almost sounded…pitying, and perhaps sad.

Before Zoisite could ask him what he meant by that, the other boy spoke again. "Watch. Do you know what this is?" He waved his hand, and in the blink of an eye, his military uniform had been replaced by more mundane clothing, black jeans and a white dress shirt.

"Magic…" Zoisite murmured. Doubly wary, he said, "You're not with Sailorneptune, are you?"

The older boy laughed. "Darkness forbid, no. But it is awkward having a conversation like this. Come in."

Zoisite had never known of anyone besides the Sailorsenshi and himself who could use magic, and now there was someone like him, not a senshi but able to use magic nonetheless. He found the older boy compelling in other ways too, in his authoritativeness, his self-confidence, and that odd little hint of sadness that hadn't seemed to fit at all. Zoisite had already taken a few steps toward the stranger before he realized what he was doing.

He stopped, now only a few paces away from the cave and the boy. The white-haired boy stood before him expectantly. Zoisite couldn't understand why he felt drawn to him, why his body seemed to be acting on its own, and so he was uneasy. He said, an apologetic tone involuntarily slipping into his words, "But…the people searching for me will find this cave all too easily. I have to keep going."

"Where will you go?" The strong gray eyes (in the shadows, they looked gray more than anything else, Zoisite decided) challenged Zoisite's deep green ones. "This place is hidden by illusion. To others, this cave is just another set of trees. No one will find you that easily."

"Then why was I…?"

"I meant for you to see the cave. Now come in before you're discovered standing there talking to thin air like an idiot."

Zoisite obeyed the command (he recognized it as such only after he began walking toward the cave again) and ignored the insult, something that would not have normally happened. However, he was anxious about being followed and intrigued by the boy with magic and a piercing gaze. He realized that if the stranger were to be believed and an illusion had indeed been placed over the cave, he would be safer there than anywhere else. Thus, he entered the cave and sat on a ledge next to the older boy. There didn't seem to be much inside the cave, which turned out to be fairly shallow. Still, he was glad for a chance to rest, and beyond that, to satisfy his curiosity.

"Won't we be heard from the outside?" he asked.

"No. I put up a ward for the sound so no one can hear us."

Zoisite was impressed. "You're pretty good at magic. All I can do is this." He created a handful of sakura petals and tossed them into the air, then watched them fall to the ground. The older boy caught a petal in his fingers and looked at it. A strange smile came to his lips; a miserable smile, perhaps. It disappeared in an instant, however, and Zoisite was never aware of it.

"Of course it's nothing compared to illusions and sound wards and large scale conjury…" Zoisite turned to the other boy. "What did you mean, you meant for me to see the cave? Why me?"

"I already knew you could use magic," the white-haired boy replied. "We're alike, I suppose you could say."

"But even though I can use a little magic, our magical abilities are still too far apart to be called similar."

"Perhaps I shouldn't have said similar. No, we were never terribly similar." Zoisite found the other boy staring at him with an unreadable expression, and he felt the slightest bit uncomfortable. He had a feeling that the last sentence hadn't been about their magical abilities at all. Long seconds passed in silence as they locked gazes.

"I meant that we have had, and still have, many things in common," the older boy amended, finally breaking the silence, and he abruptly shifted his gaze to the opposite wall.

Zoisite couldn't understand why the boy had stared at him like that, but for the time being, he was willing to ignore it in the face of greater questions. "Things in common? Like what? And how would you know?"

The older boy ignored his questions. "How old are you now?"

"Ten. Why? And how come you—"

"Why did you run away from Sailorneptune?"

"Why should I tell you?" Zoisite snapped back. Irritation from having his questions ignored, compounded by the confusion caused by the other boy's obvious knowledge of his entire situation and the strange, unsettling looks he kept giving him, flared into anger.

"Why don't you answer my questions for a change?" he continued, not quite shouting, but loud nonetheless. "Who are you, where are you from, how old are you? What do you want from me? How can you know about Sailorneptune and about me being able to use magic, but not know something as basic about me as how old I am? Who are you?"

The older boy's face was still unreadable. "What do you think?"

Zoisite glowered, but he accepted the challenge. "You've obviously been spying on me recently, God knows why. Maybe you want to use me, or my magic for some purpose of yours. I don't know who you are. I've never met you before; how could I know anything about you? All I know is that you're not with the Sailorsenshi, so for all I know, you could be an enemy of Neo-Queen Serenity-sama."

Zoisite laughed harshly at the absurdity of his final guess, at the frustration that was building within him. Agitated, he swung his foot back and kicked the stone wall behind him. His thinly padded shoes did nothing to soften the pain that shot through his heel.

He winced, feeling stupid and confused. As he looked back at the stranger's handsome face, which held a distant, melancholy expression, the anger abruptly drained out of him. "Can't you just tell me already?" he asked, almost plaintively. "I have no idea."

A slight smile curved the other boy's mouth upwards. "You're not as far off as you might think." Zoisite frowned, thinking he was being teased, but what the stranger said next drove all such thoughts away.

"You have the potential for much more than this—" the stranger held up the sakura petal, "—Zoisaito."

Zoisite's heart jumped. Somewhere, sometime, he was sure he had heard this very voice say his name before…He knew it had to be impossible though. He had never met the older boy before today. And yet, the voice rang familiarly in his mind.

Thoroughly disoriented, Zoisite's words stumbled from his tongue, uncertain and confused. "I…can't. I don't know magic. Only that. What do you mean?"

"You can learn."

"How?"

"You already know how to focus some of your energies to make sakura petals."

Zoisite nodded.

The other boy surveyed Zoisite critically. "Your magical strength is a joke right now. To perform larger scale magic or more powerful magic such as levitation or warding, you need to build up your magical strength. That will take time. But right now, I think you can manage something slightly more than a few sakura petals. Let me teach you. Close your eyes."

Zoisite had been trying to pay attention to the other boy's words, but he was preoccupied with trying to keep all his feelings from bursting out into the open. Just the very fact that this stranger was interested in helping him, interested in his flimsy powers…Warmth leapt from somewhere deep within him and spread throughout his body, into his fingers, his cheeks, the tips of his ears. And he had said that he had potential, potential for much more… It was as if he believed Zoisite had a future, as if he could become more than the mediocre, unremarkable, unwanted boy that he was. It was as if he actually cared about him.

Zoisite was glad to obey and close his eyes, for then he wouldn't have to make contact with the sharp eyes, the striking face that hid as much emotion as it betrayed. He didn't realize the older boy had scooted closer until the larger pair of hands cupped his own in the air before him.

Zoisite became aware that his heart was pounding.

"Try to make light," the low voice murmured.

"…Light? How?" Zoisite kept his eyes tightly shut and forced himself not to think about the other boy's proximity. As he did whenever he conjured sakura petals, he concentrated on collecting his body's energies and directing it into a ball of light in his hands.

"Not like that. Like this." From where the older boy's hands held his own, a dizzying current of _something_ traveled through his wrists, up his arms, through his chest, and then reversed course, flowing back down his arms and through his hands.

Zoisite felt nauseous, but he tried to ignore it. The pair of warm hands that had supported his own let go. His hands trembled, but he didn't let them fall.

"Open your eyes."

Zoisite opened his eyes. In his hands was a shining ball of light, so bright that he had to look away almost immediately. "You made this?" He squinted at the older boy sitting next to him.

"You made it. I only guided you. I trust you remember how it was done?"

Zoisite nodded, trying to fight back a wave of dizziness. "I think so…"

"Try adjusting the brightness, won't you? It's a bit too much. Just stop feeding it so much energy. You'll probably feel better too."

Zoisite tried to keep his energy from slipping away into the ball of light, but it felt like a game of tug-of-war. The light would dim for a few moments, but then grow even brighter.

For his part, Zoisite was beginning to feel ill. It was as if all his energy were being sucked away to feed the painfully bright light. After a few more futile tugs to reclaim his energy, he panicked and gave a powerful mental jerk directly at the shining ball. The light abruptly vanished. Zoisite slumped back against the wall, regrouping his energies and blinking to adjust to the sudden dimness of the cave. The weakness passed, and a moment later, he sat up.

"That wasn't the optimal solution, but given your lack of experience with control, it was well done." Zoisite saw that the other boy was actually smiling. He found himself returning it with a genuine smile of his own.

In his relief at having won the battle and kept his energy from altogether escaping him, he had barely spared a thought for what he had just done. Perhaps he did have some magical potential after all, although it wouldn't be easy to tap into or control. Still, learning another way to use his magic was exhilarating. He beamed at the white-haired boy, feeling warm all over. He had never felt so euphoric, so free. He even laughed.

The moment was ruined when the other boy's relaxed smile tightened into a guarded look. His eyes flickered toward the cave entrance, then trained themselves on an alarmed Zoisite.

"What's wrong?" Zoisite asked.

"Come with me, Zoisaito."

"To where?" Zoisite was bewildered. "I mean, just wait! I barely even know you—I don't even know your name."

"Come with me, and you'll have all the answers you wish." The other boy put a hand on Zoisite's shoulder.

Suddenly Zoisite felt uneasy, afraid, even. He barely understood what was happening. A moment ago, he had been happier than he could ever remember being. He had felt valued and carefree and capable. And now the older boy had become a stranger again, someone who had motives that he didn't understand, someone who he, in all probability, could not trust. It was as if his happiness had been a dream, and he had been rudely awakened.

Zoisite balked. "And if I don't go with you?"

The other boy removed his hand from Zoisite's shoulder. "I won't force you. But there will come a time when you regret it. I would much rather that you come with me."

Perhaps he had been wrong in calling the happiness from before a dream, Zoisite amended. In the other boy's tense, expectant gaze, he could still see the person who had encouraged him, the boy who had been proud of him. The older boy who cared about his future and his potential was still there, but now he was acting to fulfill some unknown agenda. Even so, the boy had given him no reason not to trust him.

The fact was, Zoisite had nothing to lose by going with the other boy – he had nothing here, and after all, he had intended to run away in the first place. And now the older boy was offering him a place to run to.

Distant voices called from outside. "Zoisaito-kun! Answer me if you hear me!"

"Zoisaito-kun!"

"That's Kawada-san and the others from the orphanage," Zoisite said. "They've caught up." He looked worriedly at the older boy.

"They won't find you. Will you come, Zoisaito?"

'I want to go with him,' Zoisite realized. He grinned. "Promise you'll tell me everything and teach me magic if I come?"

"Of course." The gray eyes had softened.

"Then let's go."

"Stand close to me," the older boy instructed. Zoisite stepped closer and let an arm wrap around his shoulders. Just then, another familiar voice called from outside.

"Zoisaito-oniisamaaaa! Please come back!"

Zoisite jerked away from the older boy's arm and stood at the entrance of the cave. "Shiitake-kun…" He had forgotten.

Zoisite looked back at the enigmatic boy behind him, whose eyes had widened slightly. Then he stared outside, unable to see anyone but still listening to his young friend call for him, a note of worry, perhaps even panic, in his voice. Zoisite didn't want to go back to the orphanage. He didn't want to deal with Kaiou Michiru. He wanted to go with the older boy and create a new future for himself. He didn't want to disappoint the older boy. But…

He faced the boy again, staring at the ground as he spoke. "I can't go with you. I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me that I'll regret my decision one day because I already do. It's just that…I have to go back."

When he received no response, Zoisite looked up.

The older boy's eyes had narrowed, while the rest of his face had been drawn into an unreadable mask. "Is that boy so important to you?"

"I-I don't know. But I promised him, and I can't break that promise. He needs me."

"I see. How very selfless of you."

Zoisite flushed, ashamed, somehow feeling that the other boy's opinion of him had dropped several notches. He had very clearly disappointed him. "I'm sorry…I _want_ to go with you. I do…If only Shiitake-kun…But I can't, not now." Zoisite became aware that he was blabbering. "I'm sorry."

"Very well." The other boy turned his back on Zoisite. While Zoisite had no idea where the boy was planning to go, as the back wall of the cave was directly in front of him, he had the distinct impression that the boy was leaving.

"Wait!" Zoisite cried. "Will I see you again?"

"I imagine so," the boy replied, not turning around.

"When?"

"That remains to be seen." Streaks of blue light began to surround the white-haired boy, but suddenly he turned and strode over to Zoisite. "Remember this," he said, and kissed Zoisite on the lips.

It was a brief touch that lasted only an instant, and before Zoisite could push the other boy away, the offending party had vanished. The streaks of blue light that occupied the space where he had been standing faded seconds later.

Zoisite sputtered. He had been kissed! How incredibly disgusting and revolting! Zoisite was outraged. To think that he had been on the verge of trusting that boy! He hadn't wanted a kiss! Had this been what the boy was after all along?

Zoisite was distracted from his angry, indignant thoughts, however, for as he glared at the cave wall opposite him, it wavered, as if seen through a wave of heat, and a moment later, he found himself standing amidst a groove of trees. The illusion had actually been the cave, he realized. In any case, he wouldn't forgive the older boy, he thought crossly, and the next time they met, he would tell him so.

He heard the others still calling for him and returned his thoughts to his current predicament. It wasn't a predicament anymore though; it had ceased to be when he had heard Shiitake calling for him and had refused the other (horrible and insulting) boy's offer (thank the gods). He had already made his decision.

"The hell with Kaiou Michiru," Zoisite muttered. He could deal with her. Seeing that Shiitake and the others had passed his spot already, he ran after them. "Shiitake-kun! I'm here!"

-----------------

On the way back to the orphanage, Shiitake said, "Gomen nasai, oniisama. I made up an excuse for you, and I talked to Michiru-sama for a while, but—"

"Michiru-sama?" Zoisite frowned. It shouldn't have bothered him that Shiitake suddenly seemed to be on more familiar terms with Kaiou Michiru than he had been an hour ago, but it did, and for that reason, he disliked the woman even more.

Shiitake nodded. "She said we could call her that instead of Kaiou-sama." He paused when he saw Zoisite's frown. "Is oniisama mad?"

Zoisite shrugged and tried to act like he didn't care. "Not at you. Although I would like to know why you helped them search."

Shiitake looked relieved. "Well, Kawada-san went to look for oniisama after a while, and when she couldn't find you, she didn't know where else to look. But then Michiru-sama said that we might find oniisama around there, in the woods, and so we went there and you came out."  
"How would she have known? _I_ didn't even know where I was going."

"Well…She said something about…a lot of dark energy in that area, I think. She said that oniisama would be in danger if oniisama went there, so I got worried…and that's why I helped them look for you. Gomen nasai."

"It's…it's okay. Stop apologizing." Zoisite couldn't blame the younger boy for looking for him, for being the one that made him choose to return. He watched the short five-year old walking next to him, who only managed to keep pace with him through quick, energetic strides. Zoisite didn't understand when the boy had become so important to him, only that back in the cave, he couldn't stand the thought of abandoning Shiitake.

"Is that boy so important to you?" the white-haired boy had asked him. Then, Zoisite hadn't known the answer, and even now, he didn't know how important Shiitake was to him, only that he was.

Suddenly he realized something else, completely unrelated: just because the area had a lot of dark energy, that didn't explain why Kaiou-sama had thought that he would be there. "Where is Kaiou-sama now?" he asked Shiitake.

Shiitake glanced behind them. "She was with us when we found you, but she said she wanted to stay behind for a little while and look around."

'Investigating the dark energy like a good little senshi, probably,' Zoisite thought. He hadn't felt anything in that area, but then again, his magical sense had never been developed. Could the white-haired boy (how dared he do _that_ to him?!) sense the dark energy, he wondered, then decided that with his powers, he probably could.

A sneaking suspicion connecting the white-haired boy to the dark energy crept into his mind, but he dismissed it before it had completely formed. It wasn't like he knew anything about magic, anyway.

-----------------

When they returned to the orphanage, Kawada led Zoisite into the office. Surprisingly, the director of the orphanage didn't scold him for his short-lived escapade. She seemed a little nervous, and only said to him, "Kaiou-sama will be with us shortly, I expect." Then they sat in silence.

A few minutes later, Kaiou Michiru entered. Kawada sprang from her seat. "Kaiou-sama, I'm terribly sorry about—" She stopped short, partly because Michiru had held up a hand to stop her, and partly because she saw that Shiitake had entered the room behind the turquoise-haired lady.

"Kaiou-sama…What is he doing here?" Kawada asked, gesturing to Shiitake.

Michiru smiled. "Well, Shiitake-kun was just standing outside the office, so I thought I'd bring him in."

"With all due respect, Kaiou-sama, I told him to stay outside. This doesn't concern him."

"Well, I think it's much better to have him here because this _does_ concern him. Ne, Shiitake-kun?"

The boy nodded after a moment's hesitation. If it concerned his oniisama, then it concerned him too, he rationalized.

"Then you're still going to…?" Kawada asked hopefully, leaving her question hanging unfinished.

"Yes." Michiru turned to Zoisite. "Zoisaito-kun, I know that you may not like me much right now, but you'll have to bear with me, because I'm adopting you."

Shiitake had long ago resigned himself to the possibility that one day, he might suddenly be deprived of his oniisama, that Zoisite would be taken from him. That he would be taken from him by a lady as wonderful as Kaiou Michiru, Shiitake had never imagined, but he knew he ought to have been glad for his oniisama. Even as he told himself this though, he found himself biting his lip to stop the tears from coming.

"No." The single word slipped from Zoisite's mouth quietly, but with all the weight of his refusal.

Shiitake blinked, hardly noticing when two tears escaped him.

Kawada angrily began to berate him. "How can you say such a thing to Kaiou-sama? She'll provide a more-than-perfect home for you, and whether you want to or not, you're going with her. She has the full support of Her Highness Neo-Queen Serenity on this—"

Michiru held up her hand. "That's enough, thank you, Kawada-san." She focused on Zoisite again. "Would you still say that if I adopted Shiitake-kun as well?"

Shiitake barely believed what he had heard. To think that he might be adopted together with his oniisama, that he wouldn't be separated from his oniisama…But his euphoria vanished in a flash as he took in Zoisite's mood.

Zoisite was angry. The woman had caught him in a trap, and he was powerless. "Why bother asking me?" he spat. "If the Neo-Queen says I'm going with you, then I don't have any choice, do I? Why bother trying to win my approval by being too nice, by using Shiitake-kun as your bargaining piece?"

Michiru's voice was strong and determined as she answered. "Neo-Queen Serenity never said you had to do anything, Zoisaito-kun. She only wishes that you come with me, as do I. I don't think you want to remain in this orphanage until you're of age, do you? But I genuinely like Shiitake-kun, and whether you come or not, I mean to adopt him."

"How dare you!" Zoisite shouted, leaping up from his seat in fury. "Manipulating the two of us like this! I never imagined Serenity's senshi would use such dirty tactics!"

Even though he didn't understand everything Zoisite and Michiru were arguing about, Shiitake had heard enough to alarm him. "Ano…" the boy interrupted. The argument changed into a tense silence. Shiitake felt the oppressive air, but he swallowed and found the words he wanted to say. "Gomen nasai, Michiru-sama…But if Zoisaito-oniisama doesn't want to go, then neither do I."

"Shiitake-kun!" Kawada scolded. She would have said more, but Zoisite, his voice now quiet and so different in tone from what it was moments earlier, spoke first.

"Don't be a fool, mushroom head," Zoisite murmured. He never imagined a five year old could be so tenacious and self-sacrificial. "Of course you want to go."

"Oniisama, I don't—"

"I'll go."

The room fell completely silent.

Shiitake stared at his oniisama, his eyes wide and his mouth half open. He swallowed, then said, "…Really?" If the room hadn't been so quiet, no one would have heard his soft exclamation.

Zoisite answered, "Yes."

"Oniisama!" Shiitake cried gladly.

Zoisite felt tired…almost defeated, in a way. It was exhausting, trying to be a good older brother, even if it was only a pretend-older brother. Still, he wanted Shiitake to be happy, the more so now that he realized that Shiitake meant more to him than he had ever admitted. And surely there was some kind of life, some kind of future for Shiitake if the boy grew up under Kaiou Michiru's care. Thinking about his options like a responsible older sibling, with Shiitake's best interests in mind rather than his own, he couldn't have chosen otherwise.

Knowing that, however, didn't quash Zoisite's anger at being manipulated. He was certain that the woman had brought Shiitake into the room with her for the very purpose of eliciting his agreement.

"Gather your belongings," Kawada instructed. "Kaiou-sama plans to leave as soon as you two are ready."

Following Shiitake, Zoisite was leaving the office when he stopped in front of Michiru and said in an undertone, "I don't know what you think you've accomplished by adopting us, or what your motives are, but I can tell you that there's no chance in hell that you'll be a mother to me." He left.

As she signed the adoption papers, Michiru almost sighed, knowing that it was too soon to be relieved.

-----------------

The two boys returned to their room, and in silence, began packing what few belongings they had. After a few minutes, Shiitake spoke.

"Oniisama, I'm done packing."

"Oh."

"Oniisama…?"

Zoisite turned from his bag and looked at him. "What?"

"Ano…I'm sorry I made you choose that way."

"Really." It could have been a question, but the tone was completely flat.

"But I'm really glad. Really…glad." Zoisite was surprised when the quiet boy burst into tears, and for the first time in his life, he found himself sitting on the ground with a crying child clinging to him. "Arigatou, oniisama, thank you so much! I love you forever and ever plus infinity."

Zoisite flushed. His ears and cheeks burned, as if Shiitake's happiness were a bubbling hot liquid that had overflowed onto him. To Shiitake, he said uncomfortably, "I didn't do anything."

Shiitake shook his head. "I know you don't want to go, that you didn't want to agree."

"It's okay, I'll be fine," Zoisite assured him, knowing that it wasn't true.

Shiitake smiled but shook his head again, as if he suspected the lie. He changed the subject. "Ne, oniisama, does this mean…now we're real brothers, aren't we? Because now we have the same mother, so you can be my real oniisama, right?"

Zoisite felt a sudden flame of anger at the reminder of Kaiou Michiru's new role in his life. And not only his, Shiitake's as well. He resented the ease with which the woman had entered their lives and won Shiitake's affection – that she had managed to win Shiitake's affection at all! Until she had come, Zoisite had been the only person Shiitake had seemed to like, and now, in a matter of a couple of hours, the younger boy felt comfortable enough with her to accept her without protest as his new mother.

But Shiitake was a mere five-year old child, Zoisite reminded himself. Of course he would be easily charmed by someone as pretty and charismatic as Kaiou Michiru without questioning her motives. It was only natural.

Just because Shiitake happened to like him first, there was no reason to think that he, Zoisite, could monopolize Shiitake's feelings forever. Besides, everyone except him, apparently, adored Kaiou Michiru. It was only natural that Shiitake had come to like her too.

Still, Zoisite thought, that didn't mean…

"Oniisama?" Shiitake had grown concerned at the long silence that followed his initial question.

"That's right, we're brothers." Zoisite found himself hugging the younger boy just a little tighter. Shiitake smiled at him, and Zoisite knew that at least something good had come from this arrangement.

…Still, that didn't mean that he would let Kaiou Michiru steal Shiitake's—his brother's—affection from him.

He detangled Shiitake's arms from around his neck. "Let me finish packing my things."

"Okay, Zoisaito-oniisama."

-----------------

When Zoisite and Shiitake bid farewell to the orphanage and followed their new guardian outside, they found a yellow sports car waiting for them. Sitting in the driver's seat was a handsome person (a woman, Zoisite guessed, and soon found that he was right) with short, sandy blond hair. She looked up when they approached.

"Michiru," she greeted.

Michiru smiled, as much glad to see her partner as she was relieved that she would no longer have to deal with Zoisite alone. He had scowled at her on the way out.

"Zoisaito-kun, Shiitake-kun, this is Tenou Haruka, also known as Sailoruranus," Michiru introduced. "Haruka, meet our new children, Zoisaito-kun and Shiitake-kun."

"Hey," Haruka said, raising a hand in greeting.

Fantastic. Another Sailorsenshi. Zoisite frowned and pulled Shiitake a little closer. Shiitake looked at him questioningly but didn't resist.

Michiru sat in the passenger seat, while Zoisite and Shiitake, along with their belongings, went in the back seat. As Haruka drove, only the sound of the wind and the car racing over the road filled the silence.

Haruka caught glimpses of her back two passengers through the rearview mirror. The little boy had fallen asleep, his head pillowed against his companion's arm, while Zoisite only stared out the window without much expression.

Next to her, Michiru sat with a tired look on her face. It didn't suit her, Haruka decided, and she swerved the car—just a little, but enough to be noticed.

The tired face disappeared when Michiru smiled. "Do drive more carefully, Haruka," she chided teasingly, knowing full well that the swerve had been intentional.

"Hai, hai." Haruka grinned. A more content silence fell over the front of the car. Haruka listened to the wind as it blew past her ears.

-----------------

Two hours later in the car, Shiitake woke up. First he looked for his oniisama, who was still sitting next to him. When he realized that he had accidentally used his oniisama as his pillow, Shiitake blushed, embarrassed, and was thankful that Zoisite seemed to be dozing. Then he saw was that night had fallen, but it wasn't as dark as it should have been. They were driving though a city, with more lights and people than he had ever seen.

"Wow…" He didn't even realize he had voiced his amazement until Michiru turned her head and said, "This is Crystal Tokyo, your new home."

"We're going to live _here_?!" Shiitake's exclamation woke Zoisite.

Haruka laughed. "Just wait until you see exactly where you're going to live."

"What do you think?" Michiru asked.

"It's…" Shiitake couldn't find the right word to finish his sentence. He'd never seen anything like it. He noticed Zoisite was awake and listening to the conversation. "Ne, oniisama?" he asked, seeking agreement.

Zoisite nodded, the last remnants of sleepiness falling away. Wariness and distrust fell back in place, and processing Haruka's comment, he said, "You're taking us to the Crystal Palace, I assume."

"Oh? That's right. Not bad, kid," Haruka replied, sounding duly impressed.

Zoisite bristled at her tone. "It didn't take a genius to figure that out."

"So what are you saying? You're not as smart as you look?"

"Just not as stupid as you."

Just as Haruka opened her mouth to retort, Michiru warned, "Haruka."

The blond-haired woman shut her mouth, then took a deep breath and said, "We'll be there soon. You can see the crystal towers from here."

"As if we couldn't see them five minutes ago," Zoisite commented snidely, loud enough for the front of the car to hear. Haruka concentrated on the road, and Michiru stared out the window. Shiitake, his excitement diminished, wished he knew why Zoisite was acting this way.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the Crystal Palace. Shiitake craned his head upwards to see the top of the tall crystalline towers. "It's touching the moon," he said, staring upward in fascination.

Reluctant, but unable to ignore his curiosity, Zoisite also looked up at the towering glittering façade of the palace. The building was like a glimmering pillar of light reaching high into the night, with the tip of the highest tower indeed touching (though he knew it was only a matter of perspective) the moon.

"This way," Michiru said, and the four of them entered the palace, walking past uniformed guards and through a maze of brightly-lit hallways.

"This wing is where the Outer Senshi, such as Haruka and I, live. You'll meet the other two later." They came to a door. Michiru said, opening the door, "This will be your room. Haruka and I are in the room across from you if you need anything. For now, you two can freshen up and rest, and we'll take you to dinner in half an hour."

Zoisite and Shiitake were left in their new room. It was just as large as the room in the orphanage that they had shared with ten other boys, but it seemed to be furnished for one, or two at most. There was one large bed, a desk, two chairs, a dresser, a television, and a refrigerator.

It didn't take the younger boy long to appreciate the room. "Oniisama, look!" he cried ecstatically, jumping on the bed. "The bed's really really soft!"

Zoisite couldn't help smiling. He found an adjoining door that led to a closet, and another that led to the bathroom. "Stop jumping and comb your hair, Shiitake-kun. It's a mess."

Shiitake stuck out his tongue playfully, feeling uncharacteristically giddy and bold. "Comb it for me, oniisama."

Zoisite raised an eyebrow, then huffed in mock indignation and crossed his arms across his chest. "Fine, come here, you little brat."

Shiitake pouted and sat on the edge of the bed. He smiled when Zoisite came and sat behind him on the bed and began running a comb through his hair. "Arigatou, Zoisaito-oniisama."

"No problem." Zoisite found Shiitake's short, straight hair easy to comb, as it was thick and didn't tangle easily.

"Oniisama," the younger boy began, getting a weight off his mind, "why do you argue with Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama? They're nice people, aren't they?"

"Well…I suppose so," Zoisite admitted.

"They haven't done anything bad to us, have they?"

"Not exactly…"

"Then why—"

"Don't ask so many questions!" Zoisite snapped, suddenly agitated to the point that he had to remove his hands from Shiitake's head to avoid poking him with the comb.

Shiitake was silent for a moment, during which Zoisite berated himself for losing his temper so easily. Then Shiitake apologized. "Gomen nasai, oniisama."

Zoisite regained his composure. "No, I shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't apologize." He resumed combing the boy's hair.

"You can't trust people so easily," he explained to the younger child. "We don't know why we've been adopted by a person as important and powerful as Kaiou Michiru, but you can be sure that she has some reason for it that she's not telling us. A legendary senshi doesn't just up and travel two and a half hours to adopt a boy who can barely stand her. We're not here simply because she wants to take a break from her job and raise children."

Something else occurred to him. "And she even got Neo-Queen Serenity's approval in adopting me. What kind of sense does that make? What would Serenity know about me?"

"I never thought about that," Shiitake said, trying to absorb all the ideas Zoisite was introducing to him. "Does that mean…I shouldn't like Michiru-sama and Haruka-sama?"

"You can't trust them without knowing what they're up to," Zoisite said. He ran his hairbrush through Shiitake's hair one more time. "There, I'm done combing. Don't mess it up before dinner."

"Okay. Can I watch TV?"

"Go ahead."

Shiitake was already flipping though the channels when Zoisite, who was tying his own hair into a ponytail, realized that he hadn't told Shiitake the complete truth as to why he didn't like Michiru and Haruka.

As much as the intellectual reason that he had just explained to Shiitake was a factor, perhaps a greater part of it was instinctual and inexplicable. It was a gut feeling that made his most defensive side raise a wall, his most hostile side attack whenever they were near. It was just as well that he hadn't told Shiitake. The boy wouldn't understand.

What Shiitake saw as two friendly, likeable adults, Zoisite perceived as a pair of suspicious senshi with an unknown agenda.

And even more than that, some part of him kept screaming that they were the enemy.

-----------------

Haruka rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen her muscles after all the driving she had done that day.

"Need help?"

Haruka sat down, and Michiru massaged her shoulders and back. Haruka sighed, relaxing under her partner's hands. "He's not going to be easy to deal with, it seems," she said.

"No," Michiru agreed. "He even tried to run away this afternoon."

Haruka chuckled. "He really doesn't like us. What did you do to him?"

"Nothing at all. Besides showing up out of nowhere and adopting him, I suppose. But seriously, I think Rei-chan must be right about him still being tainted by Metallia's power. I can't think of any other reason why he would hate us when he barely knows us."

Haruka nodded, listening.

"Did you know he can even use magic?" Michiru continued. "Though only on a small scale, it seems. The orphanage director said that she remembers a few years ago, some of the children talked about him conjuring sakura petals once, though she's never seen it herself or heard anything about it since."

"That doesn't sound terribly dangerous," Haruka said with a smile.

"He _is_ only ten, and his powers are undeveloped due to a complete lack of training," Michiru said. "I don't think it's anything to worry about at this point, but the other thing was that a lot of dark energy appeared this afternoon when he ran away, some distance away from the orphanage."

"And he ran there?" Haruka surmised.

"Yes. At first I thought it might have been his magic, but his aura isn't that strong or developed, and I doubt he's capable of handling magic on that scale. We did find him there though, so I'm guessing that he must have been drawn to that sort of power instinctively."

"Makes sense. But you have no idea what the source of the dark energy was?"

Michiru shook her head. "No. It completely disappeared right before we found Zoisaito. It could have been anything."

"Why not ask him? Even if he refuses to tell us, it should still tell us something."

Michiru stopped massaging and leaned her head against her lover's back. "Besides the fact that he hates us?" She sighed. "You're right, of course. I'm just…He's always so difficult with us. He even accused me of using dirty tactics to manipulate him into coming with us….I can't say that he's wrong about that. I did use Shiitake-kun specifically to persuade him to come with us." She sighed.

Haruka turned and wrapped an arm around her partner's shoulders in an affectionately supportive manner. Michiru reflexively leaned against her.

"When did we ever have time to worry about what tactics we used?" Haruka said. "The result is what matters." She smiled and held her partner's hands before her, palms up. "Look, Michiru. Your hands are still beautiful. They're still clean. And even if somehow, they become dirtied, I'll still love you, Michiru."

"Haruka…" Michiru entwined her fingers with Haruka's, then whispered conspiratorially, "That's because your hands will always be just a little dirtier than mine, right, Haruka?"

"Of course," Haruka replied, also in a conspiratorial whisper. "If you kill one innocent person, I'll kill two."

Michiru played along. "If I bring disaster upon Crystal Tokyo, you'll bring ruin to the rest of the world."

"And if you use Shiitake as your pawn to bring Zoisaito home…" Haruka let that thought hang in the air for a second, then finished, "I'll use Shiitake to make Zoisaito fall desperately in love with you."

"That's ridiculous!"

The two dissolved into giggles.

"At least the little one is cute," Haruka said after they had calmed down. "Aren't you glad you brought him along?"

"Yes." Michiru smiled.

"Come on. Let's go see if Hotaru-chan wants to have dinner with us." Haruka stood up and stretched. The kinks were gone from her shoulders. "Thanks, Michiru."

-----------------

As it turned out, Tomoe Hotaru, also known as Sailorsaturn, declined the dinner invitation, saying that surely it would be too much of a strain on Zoisite to deal with yet another Sailorsenshi that day when it was unnecessary. Thus, Haruka and Michiru had a strained but uneventful dinner with their newly adopted children, after which each pair retired to their own rooms.

Hotaru dropped by Haruka and Michiru's room soon after, bearing a message. She was a grown woman now, but her voice still resonated with an oddly childish quality as she addressed her surrogate parents, her fellow senshi, the same way she had since she was a child. "Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama," she greeted, "Serenity-sama wishes to speak to you tonight in the conference room. 'Please come at your convenience,' she said."

"Very well," Michiru said, then yawned. It had been a long day, and she wanted to get to sleep as early as possible. "Haruka, let's go now."

Also tired, Haruka grumbled a little, but followed Michiru's lead.

Hotaru followed them from their room and through the hallways toward the main tower of the palace where the royal family resided, and where, on the lower levels, business took place. "I heard you had to bring two of them home instead of just the one," Hotaru said. "How are they?"

Haruka and Michiru gave her identical wry smiles. "Let's just say that even when you were giving doomsday prophecies and aging unnaturally, you were a heck of a lot more pleasant to have around the house," Haruka said.

Michiru elbowed Haruka in the ribs. "I don't think it even bears comparison. Hotaru-chan never acted like she was a prisoner and we, her captors."

"I know, I know," Haruka said, holding up her hands to ward off any more of Michiru's surprise attacks. "I was just trying to put it in terms that we could all relate to."

Hotaru smiled a quiet sort of smile at the friendly bickering, reminded of her own childhood. "They'll get used to you soon," she said reassuringly.

"I hope so. Just be sure to come by tomorrow, Hotaru-chan," Michiru said.

"I will. Serenity-sama might call Setsuna-mama back from the Gates of Time tomorrow too."

"How come?"

Hotaru shrugged. "I don't know." Then she noticed that they had reached their destination.

-----------------

Zoisite turned restlessly on the bed. Shiitake mumbled something in his sleep, but remained otherwise undisturbed.

It wasn't that Zoisite wasn't tired – he was. How could he not be, after all the things that had happened to him that day? But his mind felt like it was running on caffeine, not only refusing to relax enough to let him fall asleep, but working hyperactively, jumping from one train of thought to another before he could organize his thoughts into any kind of conclusion.

For one thing, he couldn't figure out how he felt about Michiru and Haruka. Instinctively, he hated them. Logically, he knew he didn't have much reason to act so antagonistic toward them. True, Michiru had used Shiitake against him, but didn't it turn out for the better that both he and his…brother were out of the run-down orphanage?

It was still weird, thinking of Shiitake as his actual brother. He had no objection, of course, and Shiitake had already been regarding him as his older brother for a while now. But still. He had a family now, in Shiitake if no one else (because he was _not_ about to accept Michiru and Haruka as his adoptive parents, however nice they might act).

And what would have happened if he had gone with that white-haired boy? Certainly, he wouldn't be here now. Zoisite wiped his lips on the blanket as he thought of him. What did the other boy think he had been doing, _kissing_ him? Zoisite wasn't interested in romance, be it with a boy or a girl. Still…the older boy had been…kind, he supposed, treating him like he was worth something and giving him the freedom to make his own decision. And he had said they had things in common. Zoisite had wanted to connect with him, understand more about him and find out who he was and where he came from. It was strange. He'd never cared for anyone but himself, until Shiitake found a way through his barrier, but now… For the few moments after Zoisite had conjured the light and before the search party had come, he had truly been happy. Happy. He wondered when they would meet again. Then he wondered why he should care, and why he should waste so much thought on such a scoundrel, one who had actually dared to…He wiped his lips on the blanket again and forced his mind to focus on a different subject.

He wondered if he would really stay in the Crystal Palace for years, if he would grow up here, if it would become his home. He wondered why he had been adopted by Sailorsenshi, why Sailorsenshi made him feel vulnerable and upset and queasy, and what he should do. He wondered what would happen tomorrow.

Shiitake tossed in his sleep, inadvertently pulling the blanket from Zoisite's side of the bed towards him. Zoisite wondered if he would get any sleep that night.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed that. More to come sometime later. Please leave feedback! I thrive on feedback. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Fire Rekindled  
by Zoisaito no Kage

Chapter 2

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who left reviews! They've been very encouraging for me, and without them, I would've been really lazy and not even have gotten this much written. This chapter's about half as long as I wanted it to be because I was being slow in my writing, but I also figured I had better post something sooner or later, just to prove the story's still alive and kicking. So this is what's ready to be posted. I'll probably aim for chapters about this long in the future so I can post more often. Sorry for the long wait, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Zoisite woke to an early ray of sunlight streaming through the window, warming his face. One part of his mind struggled to understand why he was lying on such a soft bed, and why his blankets felt thick and plush instead of thin and scratchy.

Another part of his mind struggled to push all those sensations aside.

He was having a dream. He tried to sink back into the warmth that enveloped him. An image of a tall white haired teenager lingered in his mind—the older boy from yesterday. What had he been doing in his dream? They had been together, on an adventure traveling through a dark forest speckled with odd little lights, and the older boy had held his hand as they ran, promising to teach him to fly and soar through the trees and into the sky. He had been filled with a light-headed happiness, and he only wanted to continue on like that forever, hand in hand with the other boy, wind blowing through his hair, ground rushing beneath his feet. Then one of the lights had become too warm and too bright, and Zoisite had realized that he was in a strange bed with a familiar body curled near his own.

He groaned and stretched. Shiitake shifted next to him, and his eyes opened halfway, still full of sleep. "Onii…sama...?"

Zoisite searched the room with his eyes and found the clock that sat on the nightstand. It was only six a.m. He met Shiitake's barely comprehending eyes and murmured, "Go back to sleep." Shiitake nodded and closed his eyes again, and within seconds, he was breathing deeply and slowly again.

Zoisite closed his own eyes. He was still in the Crystal Palace, and gods knew what today would bring. He didn't want to deal with Michiru and Haruka. He didn't even want to be here, except he had to be here for Shiitake. Maybe he really should have run off with the white-haired teenager. The next time he saw him, if he ever saw him again, he should ask if it was okay for Shiitake to come along to wherever it was that the older boy wanted go. And if it was okay, then they would all leave the Crystal Palace together. If not…

Zoisite hoped that the other boy wouldn't mind Shiitake tagging along. He had an inkling that he was the one the older boy had wanted, and Shiitake didn't even fit into the picture. But hopefully, the other boy wouldn't mind.

The blankets were warm, and he felt relaxed, but he didn't fall back asleep. He lay on his side, staring at Shiitake's short brown hair, his fair-skinned, round face, still slightly chubby with baby fat despite years of meager rations, the line of drool that slipped out the corner of the small boy's mouth.

Time passed. He didn't know when it happened, but at some point in time, he realized that he was staring at a different face, one without a hint of baby fat. A high nose, aristocratic cheekbones, a sharp chin, fine snow-dusted eyebrows on a smooth plane of skin a shade or two darker than his own. White hair framed the sleeping face; white bangs hung over one of his closed eyes, and white locks lay haphazardly on the pillows, on his neck, over the blankets.

Zoisite sighed contently and reached out to touch the feathery bangs. He brushed his hand through them, then let his hand drop back to the bed. This was most certainly a dream, but he found that he didn't mind so much. The boy as an abstract, undefined entity in his thoughts was irritatingly distracting, but having him there in person, even though it was only a dream…Zoisite didn't mind so much.

The gray eyes had opened and were staring into Zoisite's eyes in an oddly relaxing, comfortable way. Zoisite stared back with all the ease of a dreamer. "I was wondering," he found himself asking, "what's your name?"

"Kunzaito," the other boy answered, his intent eyes not wavering.

"Kunzaito…" Zoisite tried the name out on his tongue, then said, "I want to see you again." The entire situation seemed surreal. He knew he was really in bed, and Shiitake was sleeping near him, but all he could see was this white-haired boy, Kunzite, lying next to him, staring into his soul.

"Do you?" The question was probing, with some amount of skepticism, but the strong gray eyes remained the same.

"That's what I said, wasn't it?"

A small smile inched its way onto Kunzite's face, and Zoisite's face broke into its own smile, a full, easy one.

"So it was." Kunzite's voice was light and playful, matching the glint in his eyes.

"I'm only ten," Zoisite whispered conspiratorially, still smiling. It felt like his heart had learned to fly. "Don't you dare try to kiss me again." Zoisite pulled the blanket up over his nose.

"I won't," Kunzite replied. "I'll knock out your teeth if you do," Zoisite said, grinning beneath the blanket.

"I won't," Kunzite repeated, adding, "Not until you're ready."

Zoisite knew he should have been offended that the other boy was even suggesting that he would want him to kiss him again, but he didn't care. He was happy. He liked this boy, though he didn't understand why someone, even a new friend, should be able to make him so happy.

They stared at each other for several moments.

"Come see me again," Zoisite told him.

Someone was knocking at the door. Zoisite woke, sitting up abruptly, causing Shiitake to whimper and open his eyes when the warm blankets came up with him. Had he been dreaming? He couldn't remember. There was something he had wanted to remember, but he couldn't think of what it could be. All he knew was that he had dreamed about running about in a forest with the white-haired boy before he had woken up at six a.m. After that, he had fallen back asleep, and now…Zoisite checked the clock. It was eight o'clock.

"We're awake," he called to the person who was knocking. The knocking stopped, and an unfamiliar female voice said, "Zoisaito-san, Shiitake-san, please make yourselves ready for breakfast. I'll come by and pick you up in twenty minutes." Zoisite heard high heeled footsteps leave their door, fading as they distanced themselves from the bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, Zoisite found himself reminiscing about the heavenly shower he had just taken as he and Shitake followed the woman who had introduced herself to them as Tomoe Hotaru, Senshi of Saturn. He stared absently at the senshi's black leather shoes as they walked. There had been high water pressure and hot water. Tomorrow—or perhaps even tonight—he would have to take a longer shower. Normally he hated taking showers, but now he had found a shower that he never wanted to leave. There were good things about living in a palace.

They dined well that morning, on breakfast breads, on rice, on soup. Zoisite stopped eating before he was full—he didn't feel that hungry to begin with—but he still ate enough for what would have been considered a fair sized dinner at the orphanage. Through the meal, Zoisite observed how Hotaru's deep purple eyes flickered between her food and himself. She didn't look at him more than necessary; she was polite and didn't stare, she made small talk and treated him and Shiitake normally, but respectfully. Zoisite appreciated the distance, and after breakfast, as the three were walking to Haruka and Michiru's apartments in the east wing of the palace, he decided he could talk to her. A little bit, at least.

"Tomoe-san?"

"Just Hotaru is fine."

"Then, Hotaru-san?" Zoisite said.

"Yes?"

"Why did—" Zoisite paused, finding the idea of referring to the senshi he distained by their surnames too respectful, and by their given names too familiar for his taste. "Those two senshi, why did they adopt us?" he asked.

"Haruka and Michiru? Well, they do like children," she mused.

"But that's—"

"That's not what you really want to know," Hotaru finished. "I know. It's a complicated answer, and I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to tell you, even if I was the best person to ask, which I'm not. But don't mind too much. You'll find out everything soon, I expect, from Serenity-sama herself."

"Neo-Queen Serenity-sama?"

Walking next to Zoisite, Shiitake's eyes widened.

Hotaru nodded. "You're scheduled to meet with her this morning, in about an hour. Both of you," she added for Shiitake's benefit.

Shiitake gaped, and Zoisite felt like doing the same. They were going to meet Neo-Queen Serenity-sama? The thought would take some time to sink in.

"So…you won't tell me anything, then?" Zoisite prodded after a short silence had lapsed.

"Only…The feelings you bear towards us are understandable, and despite how circumstances may seem to you now or even later, we brought you here because we think it's where you belong, more than anywhere else."

Zoisite searched her dark eyes for something more, but found no answers. He would have to be satisfied with this much until he met the Neo-Queen. Meeting the Neo-Queen. How unbelievable. Yesterday morning his main concern had been which of his mismatching clothes to wear, and in an hour, he would meet with Neo-Queen Serenity-sama, the sovereign-savior of the world. He felt quite out of his league.

* * *

An hour later, Zoisite found himself dressed up and looking like he belonged in the palace, with a starched, white collared shirt buttoned all the way to the top and black trousers. Hotaru had dropped him and Shiitake off at Haruka and Michiru's apartment, where the two senshi had received them with two sets of clothes. The senshi had even supplied them with new leather shoes, and after much fussing, they had had their way and now the hair he normally bound into a ponytail was left loose, insisting he looked nicer like that. He felt uncomfortable and stiff, and couldn't help but prefer his well worn, faded clothes from the orphanage. Accompanied by a similarly attired Shiitake, as well as Michiru and Haruka in their senshi forms, they stood just outside the doors of the Neo-Queen's audience chamber. 

And then Haruka, now Sailoruranus, pushed the doors wide open, and they entered.

Zoisite stared and Shiitake exclaimed his astonishment. Like the rest of the palace, the walls of the room were made of translucent polished crystal, but if Zoisite had thought what he had seen up to this point had been magnificent, the audience chamber was divine. The room was chestnut shaped, with three sets of double doors at the wide end for commoners and nobles alike to enter through. Closer to the tip of the room on either side were more doors, and it was through one of these that Zoisite and Shiitake and their escort entered.

The ceilings were majestically high, and it was as if they had entered a crystallized cloud. The entire room glimmered with thinly suppressed light, but at the tip of the room was the Neo-Queen, Serenity-sama herself, in her moon-white gown and the golden, ruby-embedded tiara upon her head. King Endymion sat next to her in his lavender tuxedo, but so riveted on the room and the queen, Zoisite barely registered him at first.

Serenity rose from her golden throne and took a few steps towards the party as they came forward. "Welcome," she said, her voice warm and pleasant. And although Zoisite had spent the last hour defrosting his numbed brain, acquainting it with the fact that he would indeed be meeting the queen, his mind froze over again. Here he was at the Crystal Palace, being personally greeted by Neo-Queen Serenity-sama, the most powerful and revered woman in the world. What-why-how, he simply didn't understand anything anymore.

"Serenity-sama," Haruka said, "may we present Zoisite and his brother Shiitake, as children of our own house and subjects to your throne from this day forward."

"I'm pleased to meet you," Serenity said, and with equal hints of eagerness and curiosity in her step, she made her graceful way towards them.

Zoisite felt a lurching, nauseating sensation. He hid the grimace behind an unnaturally wide smile and bowed his head.

As Serenity stood a mere three feet away, the living embodiment of innocence and love and acceptance that had captured the heart of the world itself, his mind did a sickening triple backflip and flashed white. Bile was caught in his throat, and he staggered, falling onto his hands and knees, trying to breathe and swallow at the same time.

He felt hands on his shoulders, hands patting his back, voices calling his name. He barely registered any of it though, as he stared down desperately at the clean translucent tiles. Some voices argued, and then a woman with long blond hair was kneeling beside him, a hand on his back. He stared at one of the blond locks that trailed to the ground. Serenity-sama. Serenity.

Something flared up within him, smoldering all rational thought and setting fire to his soul. Kill kill kill! He had to kill her, kill the queen of the world, or die trying. The thought blazed through his mind over and over again, a thousand times in a single second, and he knew nothing but that thought, felt nothing but raging hatred and resentment, wanted nothing but her blood and her death.

Zoisite's hand moved of its own volition and made a vicious swipe at Serenity's face, leaving a long red scratch mark running across her cheek. His other hand pulled back to send a flying punch at her face, and his legs tensed, ready to pounce on the queen and crush her windpipe. His punch never reached Serenity's face, however. Sailoruranus had grabbed his arm and was holding it back. Sailorneptune took the fraction of a second he was stupefied to grab his other arm.

"That's quite enough, Zoisaito," Sailorneptune chided, a chilling edge in her otherwise playful voice. "You've done enough."

"Serenity-sama, are you all right?" Sailoruranus asked.

A good ten feet away, safely enveloped in her quick-moving husband's arms, Serenity nodded. "I'm fine, it was just a scratch," she answered, her hand lightly touching her cheek.

Zoisite snarled and spat at Sailorneptune as he struggled against the two senshi's grip. He'd failed even to draw a drop of blood. If only he weren't so powerless…

Sailoruranus gave Zoisite a hard shake, and he stilled, glaring at the tall senshi. Uranus pointedly turned her face from him, ignoring him. "See, Serenity-sama, you're too trusting," she complained to her sovereign halfheartedly.

"Oniisama!" wailed Shiitake, five feet away.

"Everything's going to be fine, Shiitake-kun," Neptune said. Shiitake remained unconvinced, and Zoisite disinterestedly registered the fact that the boy had started crying. It was as if he had stepped outside of his mundane existence and for the first time, Zoisite could see everything clearly.

Nothing mattered more than killing Serenity, and to do that, he had to get away from the two senshi holding him. If only he had some kind of weapon…He lurched suddenly to his left, kicking Sailorneptune in the back of her knee before she could turn or do anything to defend herself. She buckled momentarily, pulling Zoisite towards her as she stumbled and unbalancing Uranus in the process. It was all Zoisite needed.

He jerked his hands free and brought them together. He remembered the white-haired boy's face, the feeling of his hands over his own, and the feeling of magic traveling though his hands, his arms, his body. The mad, thrilling hatred running through his veins made him confident and left no room for doubt or failure. Serenity was a light that had to be extinguished, by him if no one else.

This time, he held nothing back. Magic flowed instantaneously through him, flooded his very being as he ran towards Serenity. He threw his open hands at her as he ran, and the power overflowed, dizzying him even as it exhilarated him. "Die!" he cried, sending the overflowing power at Serenity. Then he fell, for Uranus had knocked him to the ground, and Neptune had her knee in the small of his back, keeping him down.

He managed to raise his head, however, and saw a swirling torrent of burning pink sakura petals flying in a deadly fast-forward pace towards the queen. These petals, he knew, weren't the normal harmless ones he produced to cheer up Shiitake; these were sharp and deadly, like a hurricane of metal shards, and they would kill the queen.

"Serenity-sama!" the senshi cried.

But they knew that Serenity would be safe with Endymion, and so they stayed where they were, keeping Zoisite on the ground. Standing protectively before Serenity and shielding her from the onslaught, Endymion raised what Zoisite had taken to be his walking stick and twirled it in a fast-moving rotation. The king easily dissipated the attack in seconds.

Zoisite watched and felt drained. Even if he weren't pinned to the floor by the senshi, he doubted he had the strength to attempt another attack. He'd given his magic everything, and now he felt nothing but weakness. Then the pain came.

It was as though every drop of blood and every cell within him was straining to move somewhere else, and nothing was where it was supposed to be. Marrow felt like it was seeping out from his bones, and everything inside him hurt, ached with intensity. He felt like the very essence of his life was being sucked out so forcefully he could do nothing but shrivel up into a dry, brittle shell. He half-curled himself (with Neptune holding him down, he couldn't move much), shut his eyes, and concentrated on breathing through the pain.

* * *

"Serenity-sama, he's not going to last long," Sailorneptune said, bringing the attention of the room from the queen's well-being to Zoisite's convulsing body. 

Serenity regarded Zoisite with a mixture of compassion and pity. Not being used to channeling large amounts of magic, his body was of course not coping well with the aftereffects of his attack. "I understand," she replied. "You can stand aside for now. I'll take care of it." And as Sailorneptune left Zoisite, returning to stand at Sailoruranus's side, Serenity raised the ginzuishou, the legendary Silver Crystal passed down from mother to daughter through countless generations of the imperial moon family line. She held it high over her head, and released its healing power.

* * *

Zoisite opened his eyes just in time to see the world flash pink. Bright, gaudy, girl-color pink light. 

He had only a moment to feel disgusted before a ripping pain tore his insides apart. He screamed, and then the pain was suddenly gone. He found himself staring wistfully at strands of long white hair as they sailed away from him in the wind.

With no time to ponder that, he then saw the strength and purity of Shiitake's devotion to him. He saw Michiru, he saw Haruka, he saw Neo-Queen Serenity, he saw King Endymion, he saw Hotaru. He saw that they had no ill will or craftiness where he was concerned. He saw love, forgiveness, and acceptance. He saw hope. He saw a future.

On the outskirts of his awareness, a pair of gray eyes faded, sinking into a blank white wall. He wondered at that, for he couldn't remember knowing anyone with gray eyes, though he thought he should have.

"Kunzaito…" His mouth formed the name silently on its own, and he didn't understand what that name meant to him. Twin tears fell from his eyes, and he didn't understand why they should fall.

Then he forgot the white hair, the gray eyes, the name Kunzite. The secret part of him that clung desperately to the boy named Kunzite gathered up all those things and hid them in the recesses of his heart, where not even the ginzuishou could reach.

The pink light abated, and hastily wiping the tears from his face, Zoisite got up, feeling oddly well. He saw Shiitake, the senshi, the queen and king. And then he promptly collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

Fire Rekindled  
by Zoisaito no Kage  
Chapter Three

* * *

He'd lost Zoisite _again_. Damn Serenity! 

Kunzite allowed himself a violent curse, but no more than that. With practiced ease, he reined in his emotions, letting them simmer within him while he sat motionless at the kitchen table, holding his head in his hands. If he had been anyone else, he would have been pacing the confines of his small Tokyo apartment, flinging books and chairs and anything within his range across the room.

On second thought, not just anybody else would do that. That was something only Zoisite, with his near-complete disregard for consequences, was prone to do.

An all too familiar mixture of feelings assailed him as thoughts of his former lover drowned in memories.

Kunzite remembered Zoisite's impulsiveness, his impetuousness (a stolen kiss when they had been working), his constant presence (a thousand years and it had still seemed too short), his temper (angry tears falling while Kunzite stroked his hair), his beauty (exquisite), his ambition, his sharp mind, his ability, his charm, his laughter, his loyalty, his possessiveness.

Kunzite remembered Zoisite's love, confessed (_"Oshitaishite orimashita, Kunzaito-sama." I respected you, idolized you, loved you, Kunzaito-sama_). He hadn't answered in turn. His mouth wouldn't form the words to express the emotion that he finally dared recognize in his head.

Kunzite remembered Zoisite's death (holding Zoisite as the life escaped from him, Zoisite's single tear streaking down his cheek, Zoisite's voice, soft and dying but beautiful even then; Zoisite's hand, catching a stray sakura petal only to have it escape as his arm fell lifeless to his side. _"Forgive me, Zoisaito"_).

Zoisite _belonged_ at his side. For it to be otherwise was…

_Painful_, his mind supplied tentatively, and the gnawing emptiness in his heart agreed.

He hadn't thought the senshi would act so quickly and decisively. Kunzite had thought that he could bide his time, rebuild his connection with Zoisite through the boy's subconscious, but now he couldn't even do that. Serenity had wielded her ginzuishou and Zoisite was wiped blank, of power, of magic, of darkness, and as far as Kunzite could surmise, of memories.

It was likely that Zoisite had forgotten him completely.

It could be worse, Kunzite reminded himself. It wasn't like his former lover was dead. That had been living death, in the last days of the Dark Kingdom, after Zoisite had died and he was left alone serving Queen Beryl-sama—no, not Queen Beryl-sama. Just Beryl. And he served no one now.

No, this time was different. Zoisite was enclosed within the walls of the Crystal Palace under the watch of Serenity and her sailor senshi, but there would be an opportunity, and when it came, Kunzite would take it. He didn't know why he had been reborn in this era of Serenity's golden glory, why Zoisite had been reborn, what his purpose in this life was, what or why anything.

He didn't understand, but he took it as a blessing from the gods.

* * *

"Where did he get that power from? I thought you said his powers were weak and undeveloped," Haruka said. 

"That's what I gathered from the orphanage director," Michiru said. "And neither of us sensed that he would be capable of attempting what he did. I apologize, Serenity-sama, Endymion-sama."

"There's no need to apologize," Serenity answered as her husband waved off the apology. The royal couple was sitting across from Haruka and Michiru in a small conference room.

"Michiru," Haruka said, turning to her partner as she remembered something, "You said that you found Zoisite near a strong concentration of dark energy yesterday, didn't you?"

Michiru affirmed this, immediately catching on to what had occurred to the wind senshi. "So it's likely then…" she pondered aloud, "there are others."

Haruka flashed her a grin. "My thoughts exactly."

Serenity looked lost. "I can't read your minds," she complained.

"And what's this about dark energy?" Endymion asked.

Michiru proceeded to relate in detail how Zoisite had run away when he heard that she wanted to adopt him, and how she had tracked him down to an area saturated with the residue of heavy dark magic, suggesting recent magical activity.

"And so if there was magical activity recently, then there must have been someone capable of such there."

"It wasn't Zoisite?"

"We don't think so. His ability hasn't been developed to that degree; if it had, we would have sensed it."

"So…" Serenity thought hard. Her three companions waited expectantly. "So…I forget what you said before, Michiru-san…"

Endymion shook his head and sighed loudly, though he hid a grin behind his hand. Some things just didn't change. The two Outer Senshi laughed.

"Koneko-chan," Haruka said affectionately and patiently, reverting back to her pet name for her none-too-brilliant sovereign, "who else besides Zoisite is capable of channeling powerful dark power?"

"Well…" Serenity said slowly, deliberating, "lots of people."

"And…?"

"I don't know! Isn't everyone we've fought in the past, well, dead? It could be someone completely new, right?"

"That's true, but…"

"I mean, if Zoisite's come back, then what's stopping everyone else from doing the same? Besides being dead, of course. I just don't understand how he's been reborn at all!" Serenity burst out. She had gotten used to carrying herself with the dignity of a queen in public, but when it was just her and her friends and loved ones, and everyone except her had figured something out, it was easy to let her frustration show.

"Usako, we don't know either, but he is back. Just think it through carefully," Endymion said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder. "For what it's worth, I would guess that if Zoisite's back, and if he had met someone who was powerful, then it would probably be someone else from the Dark Kingdom. One of the other Shitennou or Beryl, perhaps."

Serenity stared at Endymion, breaking out into a huge smile after she had taken a few moments to sort out what he had said. "That makes sense!" she declared, and then rewarded him with a kiss.

"Does it really?" her husband-king asked, amused.

"Well, I guess," she admitted and giggled.

Michiru was prepared to wait politely in silence, but Haruka coughed, bringing Serenity's attention back to her. "I figured it out before Endymion-sama," she pointed out. "Do I get a kiss from you too, Koneko-chan?"

Serenity stuck out her tongue. "You tried to make me guess it. Mamo-chan told me the answer. See the difference?"

"But that doesn't change the fact that Michiru and I both thought of it before he did."

"Michiru can give you a kiss then, because Mamo-chan gets all my kisses!" Serenity answered, giggling and clinging playfully to her husband's arm. If not for her golden tiara and her stately gown, an onlooker from afar might have mistaken her for the carefree young schoolgirl she had been long ago.

An indiscreet cough from behind them, followed by, "Serenity-sama, Endymion-sama."

Meiou Setsuna, alias Sailorpluto, had arrived.

"Setsuna-san!" the queen greeted enthusiastically.

The guardian of time lowered her ruby eyes. "I have some news, actually, my queen," she said, a note of apology in her voice. She looked over at her fellow Outer Senshi somberly, then returned her attention to Serenity. Within those few seconds, the moment of gaiety had fled.

"What is it?" asked Endymion, his tone wary but gentle at the same time.

Setsuna raised her tired eyes. "I don't think Zoisite is supposed to be alive," she said. "I don't know how it happened, but the Timestream isn't flowing as it should be."

"What do you mean?"

"He wasn't destined to be reborn. None of them were, but they have been."

"They?"

"Jadeite and Nephrite and Kunzite?"

"Beryl?"

Setsuna shook her head. "I can't say for sure yet."

"What could have altered the Timestream?" Michiru asked. "Is it a new enemy?"

"That's the question of the day," Setsuna answered wearily. "The way the Timestream has changed, altered but not specifically tampered with, giving people permanently left behind in the flow of time another chance…Only a god has that power."

* * *

An opportunity to save Zoisite would surely come, but he had to look for it. 

Kunzite considered his options. He could rush straight into the heart of the Crystal Palace itself and attempt to wrest Zoisite from the senshi, most probably getting caught himself in the process—an impulsive, foolhardy plan of action that could hardly be considered a plan at all—or he could sit here and think of what other options he had, taking into consideration, of course, that he had absolutely no way of contacting Zoisite or otherwise reaching him now that the younger boy had been taken in by the senshi and mind-wiped by the ginzuishou. Until he had more information, there really wasn't anything he could do.

Needless to say, Kunzite felt frustrated, among other things.

A door slammed, and a minute later, a tall, auburn-haired boy of about fifteen strode into the kitchen and, ignoring Kunzite, began searching the refrigerator. He emerged after a few seconds of rummaging with last night's leftover fried chicken.

"Want any?" he offered as he sat down across from Kunzite with his prize.

Kunzite shook his head and watched his companion devour a chicken leg in ten seconds. For all his pretenses of elegance and class, Nephrite always did have a lackadaisical, messy side that came through from time to time. Kunzite found it most distasteful.

"It's cold," he observed critically of the chicken.

Nephrite paused mid-bite on his second drumstick. "So what if it is?" He spared Kunzite a disdainful look before returning his attention to his breakfast, eating, if possible, more voraciously and loudly than before.

Kunzite wished for the umpteenth time that things had turned out differently. While he was grateful to the powers above that he and the other Shitennou had been reborn, that he should end up sharing an apartment with Nephrite while Zoisite remained out of his reach was nothing short of a cruel prank by fate.

Oh, he respected Nephrite. Nephrite could be capable on occasion, and Nephrite was an accomplished diviner of the stars, an accomplished warrior, and an accomplished manipulator of humans. But Nephrite was also an accomplished womanizer, an accomplished hedonist, and an accomplished slacker.

If he had had a choice, Kunzite wouldn't be living with the Nephrite.

"I see you failed to get a hold of Zoisite after all," the object of Kunzite's not-quite-contempt remarked in an offhanded manner. He tossed the chicken bones into the trash and, sweeping over the room for a tissue or towel and finding none within easy reach, he wiped his greasy fingers on his pants. "Lucky for me."

"And you have failed to find Jadeite."

"When he does turn up, he will come here," Nephrite said confidently. "It's not like I know where he is and I'm just sitting around staring at the wall and being depressed." He smirked at Kunzite. "Take as long as you want with Zoisite. Better yet, why don't you just go join him with his senshi friends? I don't even know why I'm sharing my apartment with you in the first place."

"You'll want to reconsider your attitude when I do reclaim Zoisite," Kunzite said frostily. Gray eyes flashed in warning, reminding the other boy exactly why he had agreed to let Kunzite stay in the first place.

But Nephrite snorted, not intimidated. "Yeah, maybe you can get your annoying pet to apologize for _killing_ me, and I can try to forget that he ever did such a thing…He's not staying here, thank you very much. This is my apartment, after all. I don't see you paying rent."

Nephrite could be hard to talk to. In the past, when his lover had repeatedly complained about how obstinate and irritating and thickheaded Nephrite was, Kunzite had always thought that the fault lay mostly with Zoisite's personal dislike for Nephrite. He knew Nephrite to be a man of ability, after all.

Lately, however, he was starting to agree with Zoisite's views. Able as he could be, Nephrite was hardly the most reasonable man in the world at times.

"Be as that may be," Kunzite answered, his anger cool and in check, "if you value this alliance between us, I, not you, will be the one to decide what will become of Zoisite once he returns to—" _me._ Kunzite just managed to pull back his last word, making a rather ineloquent pause before he worked out from his mouth, "here."

Nephrite cocked an eyebrow, but otherwise showed nothing. Instead he rose from his chair and stretched. "_If_ he comes back, we shall see," he said.

Kunzite decided that the first thing he needed to do was to start ignoring Nephrite. It wouldn't do him much good to end up killing his only ally at this point.

* * *

Zoisite awoke sweating. Outside the window of the room the proud lights of the city shone stubbornly through the moonless night, driving away the lingering vestiges of the nightmare he had awoken from. He pulled the blankets more securely around himself when he thought of the darkness, the all-pervading emptiness he had dreamed of. 

Turning his head to the side, Zoisite saw that Shiitake was asleep in bed beside him. The clock on the nightstand read 2:36. If it was night now, and he had met with Serenity-sama soon after breakfast…He had to have been out cold for most of the day, at least, he realized. No wonder he felt so stiff. His short mushroom-headed brother had probably worried himself sick.

Zoisite couldn't believe that he'd done that in front of Serenity-sama. Neo-Queen Serenity-sama. Fainted, flat out _fainted_, for crying out loud, like some pansy rich weak-blooded middle-aged woman. Even if the queen overlooked it, the senshi probably wouldn't let it rest for weeks.

He closed his eyes again, clearing his mind and trying to recapture the warmth of sleep. All that returned to him though, was the hollow, grasping, groping feeling of loss and horror that he had awoken with. He was missing something terribly important…

Brooding on it for even a second turned out to be a mistake. The feeling immediately doubled in intensity and clawed a ribbon-shredded hole into his soul, deeper and deeper and deeper. If he were a paper doll, he would have crumpled up into an indistinguishable ball to fill the void within him right then and there.

He turned away from Shiitake and curled up in a fetal position as tears leaked from his still-closed eyes. He didn't know what he had lost that felt so important, but now he felt that he was a shell of what he had once been. Even the slightest prod, the most minor nudge the wrong way could break him. Recognition of his hollow fragility shook him, and the knowledge that he didn't understand it, couldn't understand it, frightened him.

He opened his eyes to stare at the opposite wall, seeing only shadows in the darkness. The tears wouldn't stop falling. The Something Missing pulled at him, gnawed at him, tore into his very soul, and all he could do was cry. It hurt so much…And he didn't even know why, much less how to stop it.

He barely noticed when his silent tears turned into hiccupping, near-hysterical sobs, but he felt a small, warm hand on his arm. "Zoisaito-oniisama…" Zoisite ignored the boy, wanting to retreat into the privacy of his mental anguish. Shiitake's words, "You've been asleep for two whole days," drifted barely comprehended through his mind.

Even while the tears never ceased, he froze for a second when the smaller boy reached his arms around his middle and hugged him. "Don't cry, oniisama," Shiitake said.

Zoisite shifted, turned, and stared plaintively at his adoptive brother with tear-swollen eyes. "It hurts," he whispered between hiccupping sobs, feeling inescapably pathetic but insides aching too much to actually care. He held a clenched hand to his chest. "I hurt."

"Don't cry, oniisama," Shiitake repeated, tears filling his wavering voice. "I'm sorry…"

It didn't make sense to Zoisite that his brother was apologizing to him. Nothing really made much sense. But Shiitake was there, at least. And somehow, it hurt in a different, more definable way when he saw his younger brother cry. Zoisite hugged the boy to him, as though he were a three-year old latching tightly onto a stuffed toy, afraid to let go lest it disappear from his grasp. He cried on him, and Shiitake cried with him, though the younger boy's tears were more subdued.

"You don't understand," Zoisite cried, even while holding him. "You're just a five-year old _child_. You don't know anything. Stupid idiot!"

It was as if Shiitake hadn't even heard him. If he had, he didn't let on. He said, "I love you, oniisama. Forever and more than anyone else in the whole world."

Zoisite cried harder. Shiitake couldn't fill the hole, but he could make it hurt a lot less.


	4. Chapter 4

**Fire Rekindled: Chapter 4  
A/N:** In which I finally manage to write a longer chapter, some more story unfolds, Kunzite stops moping, and all the senshi get a word in somehow. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing so far! I'm still not sure where the story is going, but your support is very encouraging. Now without further blabbing on my part, enjoy!

* * *

Shiitake passed through the following day with no little amazement as he watched his much-idolized brother make amends with everyone. It wasn't even that Zoisite was apologizing so much as he was acting as though he hadn't done anything wrong. As if he had never been opposed to their adoption, as if he had never been mean and snippy and outright rude to Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama, as if he had never gone berserk and attacked Serenity-sama. 

People didn't just forget things like that, Shiitake knew. And yet, here was Zoisaito-oniisama acting as though he had forgotten, and Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama and everyone else acting as though none of it had ever happened. And even though he had been warned, it still left Shiitake wondering if he should doubt his own memory or not.

"Zoisite's going to be…a little different when he wakes up," Michiru-mama had told him at some point during the blur of days Zoisite had been unconscious.

Shiitake, fighting back tears as he sat by Zoisite's bedside, had turned to her, new alarm bringing him to the verge of hysterics. "Why? What did Serenity-sama do to him? I don't want oniisama to be different!"

His new mother had stroked his hair and smiled reassuringly at him. "I don't mean that he will be very different. He just won't remember some of the things that have happened recently."

The young boy's uncomprehending scared-face persisted. Michiru patted Shiitake's head and said, "He probably won't remember what happened when he met Serenity-sama, for one thing. It's for the best. I promise."

"But how—"

"Will you trust me?" the senshi asked, forestalling the boy's questions and protests.

Shiitake nodded.

"Good." Michiru smiled. "Also, try not to mention any of these things that he can't remember. They would only hurt him."

Shiitake had nodded again, having little choice but to agree. It wasn't for a child of five to question adults who knew so much more, especially when the adults in question were genuinely nice and caring, he decided. Then Michiru had hugged him and kissed his forehead and told him he was a good boy, confirming his judgment of her, and their conversation quickly receded to the back of his mind.

Zoisite didn't remember what had happened in the last few days, and Shiitake was supposed to go along with everyone else and pretend nothing bad thing had ever happened.

Zoisite had taken after Shiitake in addressing their senshi parents as "Haruka-papa" and "Michiru-mama." He had been introduced to Serenity-sama again, and he had apologized profusely for fainting upon their first meeting. Serenity had accepted his apology gracefully, as any regal monarch would have, and Zoisite had been well-behaved, awed, and impressed with her goodness and benevolence, as any common person would have been.

There was no reason he should know that only days before, he had hated Haruka and Michiru and tried to kill the queen.

Watching Zoisite laugh freely at something Haruka said as their new family sat together for dinner that night, Shiitake thought he could do it. It was dishonest, but if Zoisite could be like this all the time, so happy and untroubled, then Shiitake could keep quiet.

* * *

It was towards the end of the Dark Kingdom, when the count of remaining Tennou had fallen to one, and the youma forces had been vastly depleted after repeated defeats at the hands of the Sailorsenshi, that Kunzite had come across a discovery. Perhaps it was more of a long-forgotten, rarely practiced method than a true discovery, but it was a useful find, at any rate. He had discovered that new youma could be created simply by infusing your run-of-the-mill, magically-inept humans with a certain amount of dark energy. 

Of course, youma bred and born in the Dark Kingdom were generally stronger and more skilled at fighting, but these makeshift youma had served his half-hearted efforts to fulfill the mission issued to him by Beryl, and he hadn't particularly cared that none of them had actually been very effective. In the end, perhaps his discovery could be judged as useless and futile, for in the end, it hadn't made a difference. He had died without taking a single Sailorsenshi down with him, and the Dark Kingdom had fallen. End of story.

Now, Nephrite found himself continuing a sequel. Whether it was a test of his powers or an outlet for his profound dissatisfaction with his circumstances or something else altogether, he hardly bothered to analyze the cause of his actions. Perhaps he was just bored, living in close quarters with Kunzite and training every day to restore his powers to their peak condition. He just wanted to do something new, anything at all, and to think about the consequences later.

On this particular autumn evening, Nephrite had ventured out into a club three blocks from his apartment (even without a fake I.D., he had been suave enough to convince the bouncer that he was not underage) and met a young lady with hair dyed a deep red that reminded him of a certain redheaded girl he had died protecting. But this woman wasn't the innocent girl of his memories, for that girl had grown up long ago, married, and started a family while he had been dead, according to the city records, and so he had no scruples knocking this particular redhead out once he had lured her into a deserted alley.

He carefully monitored the level of dark energy he was transferring into her. There…that was probably about enough.

He removed his hand from her forehead, cutting off the flow of energy, and waited.

The transformation was quick and grotesque. Smooth, pale skin turned scaly and light blue, a ponytail of long dark wavy reds bleached into a shade of golden yellow, and stylishly long, painted nails stretched into razor-edged, far-reaching claws. Nephrite imagined a set of fangs growing under the woman's slightly uplifted lips. The magic now circulated within her in a steady, unbroken and unfaltering rhythm.

He had created a perfect monster. It had been a perfect first experiment. Ironic, as Nephrite had always considered himself to be more of the divining astrologer type, possessing the farthest thing from the experiment-thirsting heart of a scientist.

The auburn-haired teenager scooped his experiment up in his arms and teleported back to his apartment to inform Kunzite of his success.

Whether or not the youma would actually be of any practical use was another matter.

* * *

"What in Darkness's name do you think you're doing?" Kunzite wasn't shouting, but it was easy enough to discern his anger, going by the sudden tension stiffening his frame, the knife-sharp gaze from his narrowed eyes, and the displaced chair that he had abruptly stood up from upon Nephrite's return. "What do we have to gain by creating a youma from the humans?" 

Nephrite laid the unconscious youma on the hardwood floor and straightened so he could look Kunzite in the eye before he answered. Kunzite stood at the kitchen table, while Nephrite was about ten feet away in the adjoining living room, but the distance did little to dilute the intensity between them.

"Nothing. Or perhaps, everything," Nephrite replied. Damned if he was going to be the one backing down every time.

"Don't be cryptic," said Kunzite. "How can we benefit from the services of a single youma? Besides that, a weak youma, as I suspect your specimen is, will only be a liability. And even if we had the energy reserves to create a legion of them, the Sailorsenshi are bound to notice the correlation between the rise in missing persons and the rise of a concentration of dark energy. Do tell me what you intended for this pathetic creature, Nefuraito."

"Then you tell me, Kunzaito, how you intend to live this second life of yours. Are you going to spend it cooped up in my apartment moping after your former bedwarmer day in and day out? It's quite a fall for the highest of the Shitennou, wouldn't you agree?" Kunzite's clenched fists told Nephrite he had struck a nerve, but he forged ahead with renewed determination, a sudden flash of inspiration illuminating his thoughts.

"There must be a reason we're alive again, with our memories and our powers and our freedom. I may have fallen once, but I'm still a divine heavenly king. I'm a Tennou, and I'll be damned if I'm going to continue this cursed mundane life I've been living for the past fifteen years any longer. As you can see from this youma, my powers are adequate now to—"

"To what?" Kunzite cut in, a sharp edge of sarcasm in his words. "To take over the world? To rise to a position of widely recognized power and authority? To make everyone recognize and revere your divine existence?

"Haven't you noticed yet," Kunzite continued, "our former teenage schoolgirl adversary, Sailormoon, has become Neo-Queen Serenity? Haven't you noticed her power has matured and far surpasses ours now, to say nothing of her full court of Sailorsenshi? What illusionary stars of blind hope have you fixed your sights on, you imbecile?" Kunzite fixed a cold grey gaze on Nephrite as he waited for his response.

"Don't take me for a stargazing fool," the auburn-haired Tennou retorted. "But I hardly think it's wrong when the humans say, 'only those who dream can achieve greatness.' Have you heard that before, Kunzaito? You keep yourself so secluded from the outside world, I'm not surprised if you haven't.

"Of course we can't build a base here," he continued, very conscious of his word choice, "we." There would be no plan if Kunzite didn't consent to help him, after all. He proposed, "We will have to leave the country, escape Serenity's immediate gaze. We would be inconspicuous and careful. Then we could build a base, accumulate power and energy reserves, create legions of youma, perhaps form some alliances or force cooperation from other countries."

"And you think Serenity would refrain from sending her senshi to crush us while all this was taking place?"

"She won't know until we've made friends in high places. Alliances with other countries," Nephrite explained.

"You do realize that no matter how many countries we befriend, Serenity is the sovereign of the whole earth," Kunzite pointed out. "There is technically nothing to stop her from ordering other countries to isolate us so she can send her senshi to annihilate us."

Nephrite smirked. "You never have taken the time to understand the flaws of human nature. Just leave the 'winning friends and influence' part to me."

Despite the fact that he still thought that Nephrite was speaking like an unrealistic dreamer, Kunzite couldn't help but be intrigued. "So you're proposing we usurp the leadership in an existing country, or else form our own country?"

"That's right. Are you in on it?"

One final point bothered Kunzite. "Serenity has Zoisite, as you know. If she uses him against us…"

"If it comes to that, I'll be more than happy to kill him," Nephrite answered brazenly. He reconsidered as Kunzite radiated an intention to kill him on the spot. He amended, "Of course, if you could bring him to our side before then, I suppose we could make use of him, somehow.

"And Jadeite. We should find Jadeite too," he added as an afterthought.

Kunzite nodded, having the distinct feeling he was jumping into a black pit of unknown depths. "Very well. Then I suggest the Dark Kingdom as the place we begin our efforts." It was a logical destination—even though it had been destroyed by Sailormoon and the ginzuishou, Kunzite guessed that there would still be some residual magic there that would be friendly towards their powers while providing a natural cover for the dark energies that would build up as they became stronger.

"Take the youma," Kunzite ordered. "Let's go."

Too pleased that finally, _something_ seemed to be happening, Nephrite did as Kunzite bid without complaint, and the two of them plus the youma teleported to the freezing reaches of the Antarctic, where the main entrance to the once-thriving Dark Kingdom was located.

Whether or not Kunzite had tossed his fortune into a foolhardy lot, he felt almost grateful to Nephrite for reviving his ambition and giving him something to put his mind to, something to distract him from heartache of having Zoisite so near but so unreachable.

And who knew, if they actually succeeded, he could bring Zoisite back and give him a proper homecoming welcome.

* * *

Zoisite was like any other child when he declared to his history tutor on the first day of lessons, "I want to learn about the Sailorsenshi. I know who they are and their role in the Dark Moon War, but I want to know what happened before all that. Haven't they been around for quite a long time?" 

Unfortunately for him, his round, grey-haired instructor had strict instructions not to accommodate him as though he were any other child. Tomoe Hotaru sat unobtrusively in the corner of the small private classroom to make sure the old man said only what was safe.

"I want to learn about them too," Shiitake ventured in support when he saw that their teacher didn't seem inclined to give in. Although they shared the same classroom and the same teachers, their lessons were to differ to accommodate for their difference in age and Zoisite's prior education at the orphanage. As it happened, Shiitake's history lesson was scheduled after Zoisite's, so at present, he was idle.

The tutor shook his head, saying sternly, "It's all good and well that you're both inquisitive about the makings of contemporary history, but without understanding what went before it all and formed the foundation for civilizations, you won't understand a thing about what history is. I will begin my lecture today on the fertile soils of Mesopotamia."

Zoisite didn't know what Mesopotamia was, nor did he care. "What's the good of learning something we're not interested in? It's just a waste of time. Tell us something relevant to today. Tell us what we want to know."

The old man reddened slightly, but it wasn't his first time dealing with apathetic or rebellious students. "This is the curriculum approved by Neo-Queen Serenity-sama herself, child. If you don't like it, take it up with her in your spare time. Besides, I believe you're in constant contact with the Sailorsenshi themselves—" Here he inevitably glanced at Hotaru at the back of the room, unintentionally bringing her unsought-for attention. "You can ask them their history directly outside the classroom."

The last part of the old teacher's words were lost on Zoisite. "Hotaru-san," he immediately appealed, turning to her and applying all his charms in what he subconsciously calculated to be a most irresistible manner.

Taken by surprise, for the Zoisite that had come into the Crystal Palace had been unpleasant, sour, and ill-natured, the senshi of silence and revolution found herself speechless as she stared at his lovely pouting child-face, the dark golden brows above his deep forest green eyes furrowed in hurt as his single, simple request was brashly rejected by the insensitive old tutor.

"Zoisaito…" she said with some struggle, suddenly aware of how much she suddenly wanted to tell him, this adorable, charming child, everything despite the lack of wisdom in doing so. _His_ history was intertwined with that of the senshi's, after all, and to open her mouth to him on a subject all but declared taboo by Serenity was most unwise.

"Tell me about how the Sailorsenshi began," he pleaded, and if the old tutor had not become vexed at the uncalled-for digression before his lesson had even properly begun, Hotaru was not sure that she could have resisted Zoisite's request any longer.

"Listen here," the old man said in the most authoritative voice he could summon—it was enough to break the spell, and Hotaru sank back in her seat with relief when Zoisite turned away from her. She didn't notice Shiitake watching her curiously.

"We will begin with Mesopotamia, as I said. If you have issues, resolve them after lessons," the tutor said.

Zoisite grumbled a little under his breath—Hotaru caught "inflexible rotten used-toilet paper-face"—but he took up his pen and notebook and started to take notes as the old man launched into his lecture.

* * *

After their first day of lessons—they had had history, mathematics, Japanese language, literature, science, art, music, and physical education—Zoisite and Shiitake were rather spent. However, they already had loads of homework to do, so they lugged an assortment of books, notebooks, folders, and loose-leaf papers to the library, an impressive ten-story subsection of the Crystal Palace housing millions of books and multimedia materials, and commenced on their homework. 

After about an hour of working in silence, Zoisite got up and stretched. "I'm going to find a bathroom," he told the younger boy, then headed off in a randomly chosen direction. After a minute of wandering around, he found not a restroom, but a set of stairs. He set off down the staircase. If there wasn't a bathroom on the main floor, there ought to be one at least on the floor below, he figured.

Down the stairs, and then a right turn. He spotted a sign indicating a restroom straight down at the end of the room and to the right. Zoisite was hardly paying attention to the innumerable books on the endless shelves as he headed toward his destination, but suddenly he thought he saw his name flash out at him from somewhere amidst the sea of colors and words formed by the tightly-shelved books. He stopped abruptly, taking a step toward to the shelves to take a closer look.

A hand touched his shoulder, and he jumped and whipped around. A brown-haired shrewish librarian, the very image of the stereotype, conservatively dressed with mean eyes peering out from behind out-of-fashion spectacles, had stopped him. "Excuse me, young man, but this section is restricted."

"It doesn't say so," Zoisite pointed out defensively, positive that he had done nothing wrong.

"No, but I'm afraid that it is. You need clearance from Neo-Queen Serenity-sama or one of the royal family before you can enter this section."

"Oh…And how far does this restricted section go?" he asked.

"It's this entire floor, actually," the librarian said. "Someone should have told you before you set foot here." She frowned, and gave Zoisite a small push on his back, directing him at a rapid walk back to the staircase.

"I'm looking for a restroom," Zoisite said.

"There's one on the main floor," she said. "I'll show you to it."

Despite Zoisite's desperate efforts to scan the titles of books on the restricted floor as he returned to the stairs, the librarian had Zoisite walking too fast for him to catch any distinct words. He had only caught one title on that floor right before the librarian had confronted him, and it was _A New Interpretive History of the Dark Kingdom_.

Zoisite wondered what the Dark Kingdom was.

* * *

When Zoisite returned to the table where Shiitake was working, the younger boy threw down his pencil and leaned forward. 

"Oniisama," he said.

"Apparently the floor below this one is restricted," Zoisite told him before Shiitake could say what he intended. "We need permission from the royal family before we're allowed there. They didn't even put up a sign though," he complained. "How unfair is that?"

"Why, what's on that floor?" Shiitake asked, all attention while his imagination fired to life. "It's not a monster, is it, oniisama?"

"No, just some more books," Zoisite said. "Although I thought I saw my name on one of them, I don't know. And one was a history book about some place called the Dark Kingdom." He whispered all of this confidentially.

"Wow…that sounds…weird," Shiitake whispered back. "Maybe you can ask Serenity-sama to give you permission sometime."

"Yeah…" Zoisite nodded in agreement. "I'll ask Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa about it."

Zoisite had settled his attention on his homework again when Shiitake called to him in a whisper.

"What?" Zoisite asked, not unhappy at being called away from his introductory algebra problem set.

"You know today at the beginning of history when you asked Hotaru-san to tell you about the Sailorsenshi?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"I think she was going to tell you," Shiitake confided.

"Well of course she was," Zoisite said with something resembling smug confidence. "It was all that stupid tutor's fault for interrupting that she didn't."

"I thought so too," Shiitake said. "I could see that she didn't want to tell you, and she wasn't meaning to, but I think she would have told you."

"Is that so?" Zoisite had thought much the same, but it surprised him that the five-year-old had caught it too.

"And…I think she won't be surprised by you a second time," Shiitake continued. "It's something she isn't supposed tell you, I think, and she'll be prepared if you ask her again."

Zoisite thought about this a moment, and found that he couldn't find any flaw with this judgment. "You're a perceptive brat," he allowed, and earned a pleased grin from the younger boy. "We'll just have to ask someone else."

"Say, oniisama…will you teach me to make that face?"

"What face?"

"The one you made to Hotaru-san this morning when you asked her."

Zoisite smirked. "We'll see."

* * *

"Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama" Shiitake said that night when their adoptive parents had come to ask about their day and wish them goodnight, "won't you tell us a bedtime story?" 

Haruka smiled gamely. "All right, chibi. What would you like to hear?"

"Tell us about the beginning of the Sailorsenshi," Zoisite said, and Shiitake nodded.

The two senshi exchanged a quick look. "Very well," said Haruka. "Why don't you two get ready for bed while I decide where I should start," she suggested.

Already in pajamas with teeth brushed, Zoisite and his brother made themselves comfortable in bed within a few seconds. They looked up expectantly.

Haruka and Michiru seated themselves on the unoccupied edge of the large bed. Picking up on the most miniscule of details in her partner's behavior that spoke volumes of Haruka's discomfort, Michiru took her partner's hand and suggested, "Why don't we start from the very beginning?"

"The very _very_ beginning?" Haruka asked.

"The very very beginning," Michiru confirmed with a nod.

"But is it really okay?" Haruka asked dubiously, all too aware of the delicacy of the subject matter and its relation to half their audience.

"Of course," Michiru said. "The beginning is the most suitable place to begin, and besides, they're bound to find out sometime. Better from expert storytellers like us than someone who can't tell it right." Though her words were disguised in lighthearted jibes and capped by a jest, Haruka understood exactly what Michiru meant.

So she said, "Very well." And Michiru began her story.

"The Sailorsenshi have been around since time immemorial. Long ago, with the darkness of people's hearts, Chaos was born; Chaos, who encourages destruction and hatred and madness. To uphold virtues such as love and justice and to protect the people, the Sailorsenshi were born. They are the avatars of planetary power. Sometimes they have thought themselves cursed, for with the powers and responsibilities of their position, they cannot assume normal lives. However, more than a curse, being a Sailorsenshi is a gift, an ability to protect those you love."

She took a gauge of her audience. While both boys were avidly listening, Zoisite gave off signs of restlessness. Like most boys his age, he just wanted to get to the action.

Noting this, Michiru smiled and continued, "In many galaxies, the Sailorsenshi of a particular solar system are bound to a queen or princess. As you know, it is this way with our system, for our lives and loyalty are bound to the royalty of the old Moon Kingdom."

"Why aren't there any guy-senshi?" Shiitake asked. "Are there any in other solar systems?"

"I've never met any," Haruka said. "Some say they can't handle the magic, but I think it's just something the planets decided for themselves."

"But how come there's no Sailorearth?" Shiitake persisted.

"You ask tough questions, chibi. Just listen to Michiru's story and maybe you'll find out."

"Almost all records of the ancient past were wiped out about 2000 years ago," Michiru said, taking up the story again. "For a thousand years up to that point, all the planets had lived in harmony and prosperity. This era was called the Silver Millennium, and it is here the story truly begins.

"Shiitake asked about the absence of a Sailorsenshi of Earth. For whatever reason, contrary to all other known planets, Earth had chosen to manifest its powers in the male line of royalty. The wielder of Earth's magic at the point our story begins was named Endymion."

"The same—?"

"Hush, mushroom head," Haruka murmured.

"The princess of the Moon Kingdom, Serenity, had fallen in love with the prince from Earth. This was taboo, a forbidden relationship, for the queen of the moon had but one child, and the king of the Earth had but one as well. If they were to be married, think of the consequences. Would their children have both the powers of the moon and the Earth?

"The other planets feared the advantages the Earth and Moon Kingdom would reap from such an alliance. Trade would become unequal, perhaps favoritism would affect the moon's treatment of the Earth, and the Earth's treatment of the moon. People are afraid of many things, you see, and they became distrustful when neither the Moon Kingdom nor the Earth did anything to prevent the courtship of these star-crossed lovers. "The other planets were loyal to the moon—with their Sailorsenshi bound to the Moon Kingdom's line of princesses, things could hardly be otherwise. But the people were unhappy. They couldn't approve of the union between Serenity and Endymion, and so they threatened to cut ties with both the moon and the Earth.

"Perhaps the sensible thing would have been for Queen Serenity to tell her daughter to stop seeking the prince, and likewise, for King Endymion to forbid his son from laying eyes on the moon princess ever again. King Endymion told his son exactly that, but Prince Endymion couldn't find the strength to obey. He was too much in love.

"As for Queen Serenity, she loved her daughter more than anything else in the world. She didn't want to discourage her daughter's first love or stand in the way of her happiness, even if it brought about the end of the world. And so, when Prince Endymion secretly fled from his planet to the moon, Queen Serenity did nothing to discourage him."

"It was after this that the other planets sent their Sailorsenshi to the Moon Kingdom. Having washed their hands of their unbreakable obligation to the moon, they then ended their alliances with it."

"It was thanks to this that the Sailorsenshi of Uranus was able to meet the Sailorsenshi of Neptune," Haruka inserted, a wide grin spread across her face.

"Haruka! I'm trying to tell a story here, and it's not about those two senshi," Michiru protested, though she was smiling.

Zoisite turned Haruka's words through his mind. It was almost as if the blond-haired woman was suggesting that she and Michiru were the Sailorsenshi of 2000 years ago. It was as though this was the story of the current Serenity-sama and Endymion-sama. And perhaps it was, he allowed, though truthfully, he couldn't possibly see how they were the same people. Even including the magic of longevity in the equation, it was still difficult for a boy of a mere ten years to imagine people's lives spanning as long as 2000 years. In any case, he kept his mouth shut and listened.

"The Outer Senshi—Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto—after convening on the moon, were sent back to their planets, for their responsibility as Queen Serenity saw it was to protect the solar system from outside invaders. The Inner Senshi—Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus—remained on the moon with their princess.

"The people of the moon were blessed with remarkable longevity. It was standard for them to live to around 200 to 300 years of age, due to the lighter gravity bringing less strain to the body, and the living magic that flowed so strongly through the Moon Kingdom.

"Unsurprisingly, the people of Earth were envious of the fact. They had always been so, but now that the rest of the planets had forsaken them, they were alone in this envy. It poisoned their thinking, and with their prince seeking out the moon princess, they did not see why they should not be allowed to live on the moon as well.

"It was not long before the brimming evil reared its head in the form of Beryl, a sorceress of Earth who desperately wanted Endymion for her own."

Zoisite blinked questioningly at Michiru when she did not continue her narrative. It seemed like it was just getting to the good part. "What happens next?" he asked.

"It's gotten quite late," she answered apologetically. "We'll have to continue next time."

Shiitake was almost asleep, though he had been listening all the way until the end. "Continue…tomorrow?" he asked, a large yawn punctuating his question.

"Of course," Michiru answered. She understood from the way Haruka squeezed her hand that her partner was giving her a warning, but having come this far, she doubted Zoisite, if not Shiitake too, would let the rest of the story go untold. "Sleep tonight," she said, and kissed each boy on the forehead. It was still too early for her to think of them as her sons, especially when she had never planned to have children in the first place.

Haruka gave each one a kiss too, and after an exchange of goodnights on either side, the senshi-parents were about to leave the room when Zoisite remembered.

"Wait," he said, sitting up and throwing up the covers with his motion. Shiitake was drawn back to the waking world. "What's the Dark Kingdom?"

It was fortunate that both women had their backs turned toward him, otherwise he would have caught a pair of identical expressions resembling what many refer to as the "deer-caught-in-headlights" look.

"Why do you ask?" Haruka replied after a long silence that in reality, only stretched a few seconds.

"It was a book in the restricted section of the library I saw today," Zoisite said.

Although Zoisite's attention was on Haruka, whose body showed nothing but tension, Shiitake caught the slightest drooping of shoulders in Michiru's frame.

"It's something you'll learn about one day," Michiru answered, filling in for Haruka's evident loss for words. She turned her head back towards them and gave them the most motherly smile she could manage.

Zoisite was not to be swayed. "Can you ask Serenity-sama to give us permission to go on the restricted floor?" he asked. In truth, he didn't care so much about the restricted material itself so much as the fulfillment of his desire to open doors that were closed to him.

However, Michiru shook her head. "It's not something for children to read," she said. "We'll ask her for permission when you're older."

"What's wrong with now though?" Zoisite questioned, his stubborn contrary streak awakening.

"There's a time and place for everything, Zoisaito," Michiru chastened. "When you're young you should concentrate on your lessons and obey your parents and elders. That library floor is restricted for a good reason, and you have to trust us to know what's best for you. Understand?" Her tone didn't allow for refusal.

"Yeah," Zoisite grumbled.

"Then you will wait until the time we see fit before venturing onto the restricted floor?"

"Fine…if it's not too long a wait."

"Zoisaito." Zoisite looked up. Shiitake wondered that he didn't quail at Michiru's stern no-nonsense expression. "You _will_ wait until we tell you otherwise?" the senshi of the sea asked.

"Fine!" Zoisite exploded. He fumed and crossed his arms, looking away.

A deeper voice asked lightheartedly, "Promise?" An outstretched hand in front of him drew Zoisite's eyes upwards to Haruka standing over him, an infectious smile on her face that was somehow able to dissipate Zoisite's mood as quickly as it had fallen.

Zoisite's lips quirked upward against his will and he shook the proffered hand. "Yeah, fine."

"Lovely," Haruka declared. "Now, goodnight to both of you. Tell me if Shiitake wets the bed, Zoisaito." She waved her hand as she put an arm around Michiru's shoulders and led her out the door, ignoring Shiitake's outraged cries that he didn't wet the bed anymore.

Back in their own room, Haruka flopped on their bed, face turned upwards as she let an uneasy sense of relief spread through her tense limbs. She said, "You did a good job, Michiru. Thanks."

Michiru lay down next to Haruka, tired. "Don't flatter me. I almost let him get out of hand."

"But you didn't. You kept a handle on the situation, and you made him listen to you." When Michiru remained quiet, Haruka went on, "Besides, I was also referring to your storytelling. That was top-notch."

Michiru's spirits revived. "I'm glad it went well. You'll help me tell it tomorrow, won't you?"

"Of course." Haruka turned onto her side so she could fix her gaze on Michiru's blue-green eyes. No one else in the world, not even Serenity, had eyes so beautiful, she thought. "We can't go into so much detail tomorrow though. No unnecessary names, besides Beryl, which you've already given them."

"Naturally," Michiru replied, her tone teasingly miffed. "As though I would be foolish enough to do anything otherwise." Her searching hand found Haruka's own even as she kept her vision focused only on her lover's face.

"We're all foolish sometimes," Haruka responded.

"We certainly are," Michiru agreed. "We'll have to tell Serenity-sama of this tomorrow while the boys are at lessons."

"Of…this?" Haruka closed the distance between them and savored the taste of her lover's lips, her lover's mouth.

When they parted for air, Michiru broke out giggling. "You're silly, Haruka. Usagi-chan would be scandalized if we told her about that."

"It's nothing she hasn't done with Mamoru already," Haruka said, shrugging playfully.

"True, but given her partner, I fear she's not done the things we're about to do next," Michiru objected.

"And what might that be?"

"Hush." And Michiru proceeded to show her exactly what Serenity and Endymion were missing out on.

* * *

Sailormoon had indeed destroyed the Dark Kingdom, was Kunzite's first thought when he and Nephrite appeared just outside the Kingdom's ice-covered main entrance. Although, as Kunzite had guessed, the area did retain a low hum of residual dark energy despite the intervening years since its downfall, the amount of active energy was practically null. If anything were alive in there, it would have to have either extremely low magic levels or be buried deep down farther than Kunzite was able to sense from the outside. 

"Let's go," he said, and Nephrite, with the unconscious youma hoisted over his shoulder, nodded. The white-haired Tennou blasted the long-sealed entrance opened with a shot of raw power, and they entered the dark tunnel.

Kunzite illuminated the tunnel with a ball of light, and the two followed the chilly trail in silence until they saw that the area where it should have opened up into three different trails had been blocked by a solid mound of rock and rubble.

"Well…" Nephrite said, and kicked the pile. Some small stones rolled down it, but the assault failed to have any other effect. "This is going to be a pain to clear away."

Hardly had a truer statement ever been made. Nephrite laid the youma to the side and the two former kings began the arduous task of moving large boulders (physically as well as telekinetically) and digging through the wall of collapsed stone while forming supportive shields to serve as scaffolding to make sure that the tunnel itself didn't suddenly collapse. Kunzite wondered how far they would have to dig before they could re-enter the central part of the kingdom, and whether it even remained. He wouldn't be surprised if the entire kingdom had caved in on itself.

* * *

"So to sum it up, yesterday he almost convinced Hotaru to tell him everything he wanted to know with a simple puppy-dog look—I know, Hotaru, you would have kept the parts that concerned him out, but that didn't lessen the danger—and then he wandered onto the floor that the librarians were too lax about taping off and properly watching—" here Haruka sighed and looked annoyed at before ticking off on a third finger, "and so he comes asking Michiru and me for a bedtime story about the emergence of the Sailorsenshi, after which he asks us about the Dark Kingdom, which luckily, he doesn't have a clue about." 

The senshi of the wind concluded her tirade-summary of the previous day's events and looked around the room at the full assemblage of senshi and royalty. It hadn't really been necessary to have all of them present for this particular turn of events, but a meeting for all the senshi to openly discuss the arrival of Zoisite had been planned from the day he had been brought into the Crystal Palace.

The group consisted of the eight planetary senshi, the feline advisors Luna and Artemis and their daughter Diana, King Endymion, golden-haired Queen Serenity, and her pink-haired daughter Princess Serenity who was in her late-teens. They sat around a long table, while the three cats were perched on the tabletop.

"But he's behaving well otherwise?" Hino Rei, alias Sailormars, asked with evident skepticism. She remembered him to be a most vexing enemy who had, among his other unforgivable offenses, attacked her grandfather and turned him into a youma.

"Oh, he's a good boy," Michiru asserted. "Once Serenity-sama had cleansed him with the ginzuishou, it's as though he's become a different person."

"And you're sure he won't…just somehow mysteriously remember us from the past if we meet him, will he?" Aino Minako, also known as Sailorvenus, looked nervous. Perhaps she was thinking of the final conflict with Zoisite; to Minako, it didn't seem an absurd stretch of the imagination to think that if Sailormoon could recover her memory as the Moon Princess at that critical battle, a sudden memory-recovery on Zoisite's part now was not impossible.

"Don't be silly, Minako," Artemis chided, jumping from the meeting table into her lap. He remembered and respected Zoisite's former strength as their adversary, but he believed that as a boy cleansed by the ginzuishou, Zoisite was nothing to worry too much about.

"This is just weird…weird…" Kino Makoto, or Sailorjupiter, muttered. "And he's only a kid this time..." She shook her head, remembering landing a punch on his face in their first meeting. He had been too overconfident that time, but he proved to be a fierce, dirty fighter after that.

"Did you find out any more about how he was reborn, Setsuna-san?" Mizuno Ami, also Sailormercury, asked. She remembered facing him alone in a park, taking on her schoolmate who had been transformed into a youma. She had been afraid of her own weakness and afraid of the Tennou's strength that night, but ultimately, the conflict had forced her to summon an inner strength she didn't know she had.

The Guardian of Time shook her head. "Only that it's completely incomprehensible. If we were dealing with anything other than the flow of time, I would say it was a fluke, but there are no chance alterations to the timestream."

"How about any others? Did others from the Dark Kingdom revive too?" This was from Endymion.

"I still don't know." Setsuna shook her head.

"I've been scouting the Tokyo area this past week," volunteered the younger Serenity, who also served as Sailormoon (no longer Chibimoon, for not only was she no longer so chibi, but also her mother had passed on the position to her so the older Serenity could serve as a full-time queen), "and I haven't noticed any dark energy or strange magic, other than the usual small-scale spurts you'll find from the occasional sorcerer-wannabes."

Draped comfortably on the girl's shoulder, Diana suddenly perked her head up. "But Chibiusa, what about that alley yesterday?"

"Huh?" The pink haired girl looked momentarily confused until she recalled the event. "Oh yes, there seemed to be some stronger sort of negative energies in farther out in the city yesterday, in this back alley behind a club. By the time I got there though, no one was there, so I'm not really sure if it was a random fluke or what."

"I'll go investigate it with you, Chibiusa-chan," Hotaru volunteered, earning herself an eager smile from her friend.

Luna nodded in approval. "Ask around and see if anything strange has been going on. If people as skilled and powerful as the other Shitennou are on the loose, this could be the one lead we have to catch them. It's not surprising that they should be keeping a low profile." Luna remembered Zoisite with perhaps the most uneasy trepidation—the copper-haired young man had slapped her, chased her, shouted at and insulted her, and through it all, given no recognition of her as anything more than an dumb animal nuisance.

"Suppose we use Zoisite as bait?" Ami suggested. "Surely if the others are around, they'll want to take him back, right?"

"I wouldn't count on that," Rei answered. "Even if they were comrades, who's to say that they don't hate each other? Wasn't Zoisite the one who killed Nephrite? And how often did we ever see the Shitennou working together, anyway?"

"But Zoisite seemed to work fine with Kunzite," Ami pointed out.

"Why do we want to find them in the first place?" Chibiusa asked.

"Because if they are revived, then it's better and safer to find them cleanse them with the ginzuishou. Plus, by bringing them into the Crystal Palace, we can keep a constant watch on them and make sure they're not going to turn evil again," Makoto said.

"And it's the right thing to do," added Minako. "We took Zoisite out of an orphanage, after all. The Shitennou used to be part of Endymion's court, back in the Silver Millennium, you know, Chibiusa. Maybe it's destiny, but it just doesn't seem right to leave them to chomping at the bit of some mundane existence."

"Well, I think we can use Zoisite as bait, like Ami says," Endymion said. "We won't lose anything if they don't come for him, and if they do, then we may be able to catch them."

Ami nodded. "There's no need to do anything overtly drastic at this point, since we're not even completely sure that the others have been reincarnated. It's likely that none of the Shitennou would come near the Crystal Palace itself, for obvious reasons. So I would just suggest taking him out regularly on trips and being ready in case anything happens."

The plan was met with general approval, and Haruka took the opportunity to introduce the thing that had been bothering her most. "I don't like all this secrecy," she said. "How long can we possibly hide the fact that we're hiding something from him? Zoisite's sharp enough to notice sooner or later, and I wouldn't put it past him to figure everything out on his own."

"But it's necessary," Rei replied. "We don't know how he'll react if he find out he was a big bad evil-doer once upon a time."

"But maybe he'll be fine," Haruka argued.

Rei stared at her in disbelief. "Are you kidding? You tell a ten-year old kid, or anyone, for that matter, that in their past life they served a demon and tried to destroy all that is good and beautiful, and you think that won't affect them at all? Even if he doesn't suddenly recover his memory then, he's most certainly not going to be fine. The kid has got you completely hoodwinked, Haruka-san," she said, shaking her head.

"Rei-chan," Serenity murmured, perceiving and disliking the stirrings of an argument. The senshi of fire backed down, having said all she had meant to anyway.

"Haruka-san," said the queen, "I don't like being dishonest, but I have to agree with Rei-chan on this one. I think it'd be nice to give him a chance at a normal life without having to carry this burden, even it's only for a few years. If you think about it, first he served as one of Endymion's guardians, and then he joined the Dark Kingdom. If I were him, I think I could definitely use a break and just live a normal, quiet life for a while. Isn't it the best gift we can give him?"

"But Serenity-sama, I can't help but think it may be worse to tell him later," Hotaru's quiet voice ventured. "I know it's painful for a child to know that he or she has caused others so much pain, but if it were me—" and here everybody knew that what she meant was, "when it had been me," referring to her time as Mistress 9, "—if I couldn't remember what I had done, I'd rather know sooner than later.

"Maybe it feels better not knowing at all, but it's something I would need to know to truly be at peace with myself. I'm not sure it would be a kindness to tell me about my evil past only long after the fact."

"But it already is long after the fact," Michiru pointed out. "I understand what you're saying, why put off the inevitable, but I agree with Serenity-sama."

"Michiru?" murmured Haruka in surprise.

"I think it will be a challenge to keep this from him for a long time," Michiru said. She spoke for everyone to hear, but her eyes were trained on Haruka's across the table. Better than anyone, she knew how much Haruka had taken to Zoisite in the few days he had been with them, and how much she would rather be completely truthful with their adopted child, for Michiru felt the same way. And yet, those same feelings grounded Michiru's determination that Zoisite would not know, and would not find out his past until he was ready.

She said, "Of course he probably will suspect we're hiding something. But I think it's more important at this point to give him a stable, supportive environment. He will know about all of this one day, and it will shake him. But when that day comes, I'd rather that he have a wealth of memories of us, his new family, that he can draw on for comfort and support. I'd rather have him feel accepted and at home, and have strong relationships with all of us so he knows he can rely on us and trust us when he becomes troubled. If he regains his memories, I want him to know that the Sailorsenshi are not his enemies. If we tell him now, he won't have that foundation, our love, to lean on."

Haruka rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I see your point. We'll do as Serenity says. Hotaru?"

The younger senshi nodded. "I won't tell him anything," she promised.

"And what about the chibi?" Haruka asked.

"The chibi?" A few pairs of eyes inevitably turned towards the younger Serenity. "Chibi-Usa?"

"No, no, I meant, Shiitake. He's a good kid, but he might be able to put a few things together over time, especially as he's seen Serenity cleanse Zoisite with the ginzuishou."

"As long as we don't give him any more information than we give Zoisite, I don't think there's any real problem," Luna said.

"So…when can we meet him?" Makoto asked.

* * *

"No one knows for sure what Beryl's true origins are. Some say she was a plain serving girl, others, that she was of the lesser nobility. Whatever the case, she had an aptitude for magic. The bitterness and jealousy in her heart drew a powerful demon to her, and she sold her soul to it in exchange for its help in taking revenge against the moon and winning Endymion over. 

"With Earth's champion, Prince Endymion, on the moon, and a population already ill-disposed towards the moon, Beryl had few problems recruiting millions of people to her cause. The demon gave Beryl and her followers great strength."

Zoisite cut in, "No offense to our King Endymion, but this prince guy seems pretty irresponsible. Not the type of leader I'd follow, if he just abandons his people for a pretty face."

"Oniisama!" Shiitake cried, vexed that he had interrupted the mesmerizing flow of Michiru's story to make such a comment.

Zoisite shrugged. "It's just what I think."

"Well, others probably thought the same way as you," Haruka said. "Among Beryl's recruits were four of the men considered closest to Endymion. They were said to have served as his guardians, his advisors, his friends, but they were also natural leaders. They had remarkable magical powers, on par with the senshi, even."

"How come these four were as powerful as the senshi, if the Sailorsenshi are so legendary?" Zoisite asked.

"Well…these four weren't exactly average," Haruka said.

"But why? What made them special?"

The blond-haired woman shrugged her shoulders. "Look, the Sailorsenshi are legendary, and they are planetary avatars. But sometimes other people who aren't senshi are still gifted with magical abilities, and it just happened that this was the case for these four men."

"But who were they?"

Haruka considered, and decided this, at least, was safe. "They were called the Shitennou, the four heavenly kings. Anything more than that, I can't tell you." _I won't tell you_, she amended in her mind.

"Oh. Okay. Go on then."

Haruka couldn't help being surprised. She had been expecting a more thorough interrogation from Zoisite on this subject.

"Go on, Haruka," prodded Michiru, eyes twinkling.

"Right." Haruka recovered herself. "Well, when they threw in their lot with Beryl, Earth's defenses fell, and Beryl fashioned herself the queen of a new Earth. She intended to annihilate the Moon Kingdom and make Prince Endymion her king. Had Endymion's four guardians not turned against him and provided extraordinary power and very capable leadership for Beryl's armies, it's possible that the tragedy that followed could have been avoided."

"What a poor judge of character," Zoisite said. "Endymion was a fool for relying on backstabbing scum."

Haruka arched an eyebrow. "That's harsh. Criticism of Endymion and the Shitennou in one breath. I'll have you know though, Endymion was no fool. He had been on the best of terms with these four when he left for the moon."

"Then how could they betray him? I mean, sure, I said Endymion wasn't much of a prince, since he did abandon his people. But these four must have been scumbags, if they couldn't even stand by their friend, never mind the Earth."

"You really think that?" Michiru asked carefully, all too aware of the sensitivities she had to cultivate in Zoisite on this matter. It wasn't right for him to condone what he himself had once done, but it wouldn't bode well for him either if he was bitter and hateful of his former self.

"Of course." Zoisite folded his arms across his chest.

"But even so…you can't hate them for it," she said.

Zoisite frowned. "Why not?"

"It was all so long ago—"

"But they were wrong!" cried Zoisite, who, until five seconds ago, had no intention of hating the four traitors. Five seconds ago was then Michiru had told him not to hate them. Both Zoisite and Michiru failed to appreciate the psychological complexities inherent in even the healthiest parent-child relationships.

"Perhaps they were," Michiru allowed. "But we don't know their true motives at the time, or if they had just somehow been brainwashed. What's happened has happened. The past is the past, and we should bear these four soldiers no grudge. Learn to look ahead, Zoisaito."

"I don't need a lecture from you," the boy grumbled. "I'm forward-looking, I'm looking forward all the time, okay? I'll hate who I want, thank you very much."

Haruka hastened to fill the silence before it could become uncomfortable. "So Beryl and her army launched an attack on the Moon Kingdom. And it was a terrible, bloody battle for both sides. Beryl's army had monsters, youma, in addition to humans, and one of them could sometimes take down as many as 20 humans before it fell.

"Both forces were strong, but the critical point came when Beryl finally found Princess Serenity and her prince. She tried to persuade the prince to her cause, offered him a kingship by her side, but naturally, he refused. So she killed him and the princess."

"That was easy," Zoisite couldn't help remarking, drawing a pained look from Michiru.

"It wasn't quite over though," Haruka said, more or less ignoring Zoisite's sarcasm. "When Queen Serenity saw what had befallen her daughter and the prince, she was devastated. Furthermore, everything on the moon had been ravaged and destroyed. There was no reason for her to live but her daughter, and now even she was gone. That's why the queen used one of the ultimate powers of the ginzuishou and gave her life to protect the souls of her daughter and her friends. She used all her strength to send them forward into the future to a better time where they could have a second chance at happiness and peace."

"So they are the same senshi and the same Endymion and Serenity as today?" Zoisite asked.

"Yes."

"Well…so how did they reawaken? I'm positive they were around in the 20th century, long before the Earth froze over and the Dark Moon War."

"Well, that…" Haruka trailed off.

"That will have to wait for another day," Michiru finished.

"Tomorrow?" asked Zoisite.

"Tomorrow!" Shiitake seconded.

"Another day," Michiru said firmly. In actuality, she had no intention of telling this next part of the story. It was a story for Serenity and the Inner Senshi to tell in their own time, and no amount of pleading on Zoisite's part would ever make Michiru yield on this point.

* * *

After the first month of adjustment, during which it seemed as though he met senshi after senshi (naturally they would be curious about their fellow senshi's adopted children), Zoisite was content. His life had settled down, he could run all over the Crystal Palace without getting lost, and he had discovered several quiet gardens to retreat to if he needed to be alone. He'd quickly taken to the ways of fine living, and in his ten-year old mind, he thought he'd grow up to be either a highly-respected leader of some droll and killingly boring bureaucratic department or die a young death leading Serenity's army against some new evil alien threat. Personally, he preferred the latter. 

Although Zoisite could honestly say he was happy with his new life, there were times when he felt like he was skating on a world of thin ice. One of the cracks that had threatened to collapse his world happened when he discovered that he had lost his magic.

He had been in the small garden on the right side of the palace grounds about two weeks after his adoption. Lost in thought as he gazed through a sakura tree that was in the process of shedding its leaves before the onset of winter, the whimsical desire to see a sakura tree shedding both blossoms and leaves—completely incongruous and seasonally impossible—struck him, and he raised a hand to conjure the flowers.

Nothing came. He wondered distantly why this should be, how it could be. His magic, however small-scale and weak it was, had never failed him before.

He tried again, and again with growing desperation.

An hour later, Shiitake found the older boy asleep beneath the sakura tree. When he looked closer, he saw the telltale swollenness around his brother's eyes that spoke of sorrow, loss, and mourning.

If Shiitake had been more knowledgeable about the ginzuishou's effects, he could have told Zoisite that it was Serenity's ginzuishou that had robbed him of his cherished magic. However, the specific workings of the silver crystal were beyond the younger brother's understanding at this point, and so Zoisite chose to believe that it was an unlucky turn, and that one day, his magic would return to him as abruptly and inexplicably as it had left. If he didn't believe that, his world may well have crumbled.

* * *

Shiitake dreaded nights the most. Oh, five nights out of seven, nothing happened, and he could sleep undisturbed through the long ticking hours until the mechanical beeping of the alarm clock woke him up just in time to dress and rush to lessons with Zoisite. 

Two nights out of seven, however, long after the Crystal Palace had fallen into its peaceful slumber, Shiitake would find himself opening his eyes to the pitch darkness and the sound of shattered silence. Tonight was one of those nights.

The first sob had awakened Shiitake, and he wearily opened his eyes and turned on his side to regard his much-loved brother. Zoisite had buried his face in his pillow, but it was a poor effort to stifle his cries. His light frame shook violently, and he was practically hyperventilating between his sobs as he struggled to get enough air to keep his body functioning.

"Oniisama," Shiitake said, finding the strength to maintain a steady voice, and reached an arm out towards the older boy. Sometimes Zoisite would ignore his touch, but tonight Zoisite turned to him and wrapped his arms around the younger boy, the intensity of his tears and sobs lessening ever so slightly.

Shiitake might have offered platitudes such as, "Don't cry," and "Everything will be all right," but on top of them being rather meaningless, he'd found that Zoisite didn't care for them. So on nights such as these, no matter how uncomfortable or scared he might have been, he would let Zoisite hold him tightly and cry on him, because that was the only comfort he could offer him that meant anything at all.

On this night, when Zoisite's tumultuous sobs had receded into a quiet flow of tears, Shiitake ventured to ask, "Do you want me to get Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa?"

Zoisite failed to answer verbally, but he shook his head fiercely.

A little while later, when the source of tears had more or less dried up and Zoisite's hold on him had loosened into something that could no longer be described as painfully tight, Shiitake asked, "Why do you cry, oniisama?"

"It hurts," Zoisite whispered.

"Where?"

Zoisite thought a moment, and though remembering his pain brought new tears trickling from his eyes, he answered, "My heart. My soul."

Realization suddenly dawned on Shiitake as the pieces fell into place in his mind. His conscious mind couldn't follow what irrational, inexplicable, and illogical twists and leaps of deduction had been made, but he knew that his conclusion was, if nothing else, correct.

"Oniisama…"

Shiitake wanted nothing more than to tell Zoisite that he had figured everything out, that things had started going wrong from the time they began their new life with the senshi.

More specifically, things had started to go wrong when Serenity had wielded her ginzuishou on Zoisite. Before that, Zoisite had never woken up in the middle of the night crying. Before that, Zoisite had had his magic. Before that, Zoisite had been the pillar of strength Shiitake had clung to.

Things couldn't go on like this. It frightened the younger boy to see the object of his idolization and adoration so broken. It was wrong.

Michiru's warnings not to tell Zoisite anything of his encounter with the ginzuishou flew out of Shiitake's shaken mind. Deep down inside, his oniisama was not happy, despite his cheerful, carefree daytime demeanor. And if he wasn't happy, then keeping this secret from him was clearly not helping. How telling him would make things better had not occurred to Shiitake. His only thought was that things couldn't get any worse, and that perhaps unloading his burden of truth could be a magical cure-all.

"Oniisama?"

"Mm?" Zoisite had been falling back asleep.

"The second day we were here, we met Serenity-sama, right?"

"Unn," Zoisite grunted in agreement.

"You said you fainted when you met her."

Zoisite roused himself. "You saw me yourself. I don't want to talk about it."

"But you didn't really faint though, oniisama. At least, that's not everything that happened."

"What are you talking about?"

"Serenity used the ginzuishou on you." Shiitake suddenly found himself talking quickly, nervously, wanting to get this over with. "You had been upset, and you attacked her. You used really strong magic, they said, and Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa had to stop you. Endymion-sama saved the queen. Then Serenity-sama used the ginzuishou on you, and I think it took away your magic and stopped making you angry at all the senshi. And it changed your memories about all of that."

Shiitake waited apprehensively when he finished. He hoped his brother wouldn't get angry at the senshi and everyone for keeping this from him, but more than anything, he hoped that knowing this now would somehow help Zoisite heal. Zoisite's laugh took him off guard.

"Oniisama? What's so funny?"

The older boy let a few more chuckles escape before he was able to repress them. When he spoke, his voice was full of mirth and amusement. "Why in Serenity's name would I attack Serenity-sama? Do tell me that. And there's no way I could have used a strong magical attack on her. The only magic I've ever been able to do has been conjuring a few flower petals. And finally, it's a great way to explain away everything, the _maboroshi no ginzuishou_, but Serenity-sama using it on me? That's absurd! For your information, the ginzuishou is used primarily for destroying evil villains and healing them, if they're heal-able. I hope you're not saying that I was an evil villain." Here Shiitake shook his head no.

"Besides," the older boy added, "supposing Serenity-sama did use the ginzuishou on me. If the ginzuishou has good magic that makes things better, it doesn't make sense that it should make me feel like this, hurt like this."

Shiitake's eyes filled with tears. "But oniisama! That's really what happened!"

Zoisite laughed more gently this time. "I'm sorry, but I can't believe it."

"I wouldn't lie to you, oniisama." Shiitake found tears escaping down his cheeks and dripping onto Zoisite's shirt. He hastened to wipe them away when one of the arms around him moved upward to ruffle his hair.

"I know you wouldn't," Zoisite murmured affectionately. "I'll find out who gave you these ideas and give them a whipping they won't forget. Now stop having such silly thoughts and go back to sleep."

Nothing more was said between them, and the silence became more comfortable only when Zoisite's breathing took on the deep, regular pattern of a sleeper. Shiitake was finally drifting back to sleep himself when he heard his brother mumble almost inaudibly, "Kunzaito-sama."

He would have doubted his ears had he been farther away, but laying in Zoisite's arms, he knew precisely what he had heard. When he looked up at his brother's face, he saw a tear glinting with the captured light of the moon slide out the corner of his right eye and disappear into the fabric of the pillow.

"Oniisama?" Shiitake wanted to know who "Kunzaito-sama" was.

But Zoisite was asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** The next chapter! It lives! Thanks to all you people who are still actually reading this headless monster. And a big thank you to all my reviewers. I'll warn you now that I have no idea where this story is headed, just that I hope to finish it somehow (someday). This chapter: The long-awaited meeting! Dum dum dum...And a twisted surprise. I swear, if something sounds improbable or weird or not quite believable, it's probably because the idea occurred to me when I was half-asleep. .

* * *

Seven years passed. Everyday Zoisite grew happier and happier. He loved Haruka and Michiru and Shiitake, and all in all, he had no complaints about his life.

He learned to stifle his secret nighttime tears into his pillow. When Shiitake stopped waking up to his sobs, he congratulated himself on having mastered the art of suffering in silence. He only wished he knew _why_ he had to suffer at all, especially given how well he was living, and how content he was, but a sense of shame persuaded him to hide his inner brokenness from all others.

Twice a month, the senshi would take him and his brother out, usually to the city or surrounding countryside. At first they had visited the sights, the museums, the towers, the old castles and temples and shrines, but more often than not, they simply went to mingle in the crowd, enjoying everything that the city of Tokyo had to offer, which, in terms of saleable goods and food, was nearly limitless.

On this particular winter Saturday, Michiru had some business to attend to, so she had asked Mizuno Ami to take the boys out. Zoisite was thankful for the change. Haruka and Michiru generally advocated their outings to be "family time," and tended to keep close to him and his brother. The blue senshi of Mercury was responsible when she took them out, certainly, but she wasn't family, and he could count on her to give them plenty of free rein. There was one place that he was longing to visit, unsupervised.

"Where do you want to go today?" Ami asked, and Zoisite, trying not to appear too eager and doing his best to feign indifference, casually made a suggestion.

"How about Asakusa?" Asakusa, the old district that attracted droves of visitors with its Edo-era set-up. Shiitake had sighed, and muttered, "Again?" under his breath, but said no more after Zoisite elbowed him.

Red and white were the colors of Asakusa. Vendors lined the street leading to the temple, watching the visitors shuffle past their small shops and open-air stalls. Some of the less frequent comers would be quickly lured to the array of azuki-filled snacks, tea, masks, stuffed animals, postcards, posters, and more, while the more regular visitors went first to the large temple at the end of the path, paying their respects there before emptying their wallets on the goods in the street. Red and white striped tarps gave shade to the shopkeepers in their stalls, and drooping branches of pink and white plastic balls, simulating the effect of cherry blossoms in full bloom in spite of the winter season, hung from the shops.

"I know you've been here several times," Ami said when they arrived late that morning. "I need to go to the bookstore a few blocks away, but I'll come back to pick you up. Is two hours enough for you?" She checked her watch. "How about meeting back here at two-thirty?"

Zoisite tried to hide his disappointment. Two hours was more than enough, more than he had expected and more than he had had for a long time with _him_. "Three o'clock," he said.

Ami shook her head. "Maybe two-forty at the latest. Remember, Serenity-sama wanted to have dinner with all of us tonight, and Michiru-san said you had a piano lesson scheduled in the afternoon, so we can't stay out too late."

"I know, I know. Fine."

Ami left the two boys to find their own amusements in the crowded street. Zoisite checked to make sure she was out of sight as he bought cups of tea to warm Shiitake and himself.

As they headed down the street, dressed inconspicuously in warm winter coats, Shiitake sipped his tea and asked, "Are you going there again?" The younger boy, at the age of twelve, had grown a good deal, but still he barely came up to Zoisite's shoulder. He had long since done away with his mushroom cut. His dark brown hair was still short, but had grown messier in keeping with the contemporary trends Haruka considered chic for adolescent boys, and though his tone toward his older sibling was respectful as always, he couldn't suppress an edge of impatience.

Responsive older sibling that he was, Zoisite picked up on the younger boy's agitation. "To the fan shop, yes. You don't have to come along, you know." He regarded Shiitake with some irritation. The years had graced Zoisite's form most enviably. He was slender, and with his fair, effeminate features and long, copper-blond hair, had charmed the majority of the people at the palace, servants and senshi alike. He only wished for a few more inches to make his presence less sylph-like and more manly, but at seventeen, he could still hope that his growth spurt hadn't quite ended yet.

Shiitake sulked, and Zoisite wished the younger boy weren't quite so clingy. They needed time apart, and especially here, Zoisite didn't really want him hanging around. "Look," Zoisite said, stepping into the role of the older, responsible brother trying to get rid of an unwanted younger sibling with practiced ease, "I'll be at the shop the whole time. You know where it is. Here, take some of my money. Go buy yourself some lunch, have fun, be independent for once and grow up. Just find me there before we have to meet Ami-san."

"Aren't you having lunch, oniisama?" Shiitake asked as he looked hesitantly at the money Zoisite had just handed him. They were pushing steadily through the crowd, and the fan shop had come into sight.

"I'll be fine," Zoisite answered, looking distracted. Shiitake didn't understand why his brother's eyes seemed to shine more when he was going to this shop in particular. He gave it up as a lost cause when Zoisite slipped away from him and into the shop. The young boy sighed heavily and walked on in search of lunch.

Zoisite loved the fan shop. Folding fans of all kinds were displayed on the shelves inside and hung on a line outside. Paper fans, Cloth fans, wood fans, golden fans, undecorated blank white fans, painted fans, flowery fans, fans that snapped open and closed swiftly, fans that closed awkwardly, miniature fans, meter-long fans. But even better than the fans was the shopkeeper.

"Welcome," came the deep, familiar voice, and Zoisite couldn't hold back the broad smile that stretched so wide across his face that his cheeks almost hurt.

"K-san," Zoisite greeted. His heart was suddenly thumping nervously.

Startled silver-gray eyes turned toward him, sweeping over him lingeringly. The shopkeeper's long black hair looked more lackluster than Zoisite remembered it being before, but otherwise, the tall, dusky-skinned, kimono-clad shopkeeper the youth knew only as "K-san" had not changed.

"Zoisaito, it's been a while," K-san said.

Zoisite inclined his head apologetically. "Six months," he said. "It's been hectic. We traveled around the world for three months, and then after we got back, Shiitake had a list of places he wanted to go to in Kyushu and Hokkaido, so our schedule's been packed."

"I see," K-san said. "Sounds like you've been busy."

"I'm sorry." Zoisite shook his head. "They like to keep us busy. But today…I'm supposed to meet Shiitake and Ami-san—the senshi, I mean—in two hours or so. I'm free until then." He looked hopefully at K-san, willing him to understand that today, his visit didn't have to be just a few short minutes.

But after a short moment, K-san only sighed out a vague, appraising, "Hnm…"

Zoisite's eyes swept around the shop, empty but for the two of them. In the silence that fell, he suddenly felt awkward and self-conscious as the silence of six months of separation bore down on them. He realized that whatever it was about K-san that stirred something deep within him, the fact was that they weren't much more than friendly acquaintances. He knew very little about the handsome shopkeeper, and had spoken to him only a handful of times. Zoisite took a step backwards, towards the door. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't keep you from your work…"

The shopkeeper shook his head, tired black hair waving back and forth with the motion of his head. "It's not terribly busy, as you can see." He smiled slightly, and the expression sent an electric thrill of pleasure through Zoisite. "I could take a lunch break now," K-san said. "Perhaps you would care to join me?"

"Of course!" Zoisite tried not to seem inappropriately eager, but he couldn't help the enthusiasm that came with his answer, nor could he do anything about the silly smile that seemed to have become a permanent feature of his face.

He had met his friend the shopkeeper on his very first trip to Asakusa with Shiitake and Michiru and Haruka three years ago. A natural aesthetic, Zoisite had lingered to look at some of the more exquisitely decorated fans while the other three had gone on ahead of him.

"May I help you?" someone had asked right behind him, and Zoisite had jumped. Turning around in embarrassed annoyance, he found himself face to face with quite possibly the most handsome man in the world, with dark hair and a dark complexion contrasting oddly, but not unattractively, with a set of pale eyes. His indignation at being surprised melted away into awkward self-consciousness.

"I…I'm just looking," Zoisite had answered, suddenly all too aware that staring, especially at a perfect stranger head-on, was rude.

The other man had stepped close, and asked, "What kind of pattern would you like?"

"I don't know, really." Zoisite turned and scanned the fans, though his awareness was hyper-focused on the man next to him. "I mean, these look beautiful, but I just wanted a paper one…"

The shopkeeper glanced around his shop and strode purposefully to pick out a fan displayed right by the register. He handed to Zoisite. "How about this one?"

Zoisite handled it carefully. The fan had a bamboo structure, on which was mounted sturdy, white, gold-flecked paper. On the paper was the motif of a sakura branch in full bloom, pink flowers scattered across the fan by an unseen wind.

"It's beautiful. It's perfect."

"It complements your own beauty," the other man said, and Zoisite had flushed.

"Thank you," he answered politely while his insides twisted and did excited back flips. He handed the fan back to the shopkeeper. "Then I'll take it, please."

"Five hundred yen," the other man said, folding the fan closed and packaging it into a paper wrapping.

Zoisite hesitated, his hand on the five thousand yen bill in his pocket. "That cheap?" He had expected to pay two or three thousand for a fan of such obvious quality.

"Are you opposed to a discount?" Unreadable gray eyes watched him.

"Thank you, but it's not necessary." Zoisite looked at the packaged fan in the storekeeper's hand. "I'm not lacking in money, and I'd rather you not lose money on my account. Please tell me how much it really is."

He wondered if the man would be offended and think him ungrateful, and immediately he regretted his words. However, the man didn't appear surprised. Instead, he said, a smile ghosting his lips, "For you, the fan is five hundred yen. If you think that amount is inappropriate, you can repay me by coming again to my shop."

Zoisite had hesitated, not entirely comfortable, and finally nodded. He would certainly return to the shop again. After he paid, on impulse, he asked for the shopkeeper's name.

"Just call me K," the other man said.

Zoisite had been puzzled, but chose not to press the issue at that time. "Thank you, K-san," he said, bowing, fan held tightly in his hands. "I'll see you again sometime." Then he'd turned and run to catch up with his family, feeling short of breath as he clutched his new fan to his chest. "What held you up for so long, Zoi-chan? Meet someone cute?" Haruka had asked with a grin when he caught up with them, and red-faced, Zoisite shook his head.

After that, he tried to come once every three or four months for his bi-monthly outings. Any more than that, and he was afraid the senshi would become suspicious. He wanted to keep K-san a secret, as though the shopkeeper were a diamond to be kept hidden, for fear that it would be snatched from him upon discovery.

It was hardly easy. Even if they came to Asakusa, Zoisite could only manage a few stolen minutes of conversation with K-san before he had to return to Haruka and Michiru, who believed that he had gone to the restroom. Only when Ami-san chaperoned them one day was Zoisite able to spend real, quality time with K-san, chatting over tea and building on the foundation of their acquaintance.

K-san had never made another open compliment again, but Zoisite remembered their first meeting clearly, and held sacred their ensuing acquaintance. He told him what he could of life with the senshi within the walls of the Crystal Palace, of his lessons, of Shiitake, of the secrets that were obviously kept from him. K-san listened, sometimes offered advice or commentary, but all the time, he paid attention, and Zoisite found the attention flattering.

But Ami-san chaperoned them only once in a long while, and then, Zoisite knew how suspicious it would be to request to go to Asakusa every single time she was with them. He had suppressed the yearnings of his heart many times thereafter, requesting to go to Yokohama or the amusement park, or letting Shiitake make the requests, each time Ami-san chaperoned them after that. But it had been six months since he had seen even a glimpse of K-san, six months since they'd had a few stolen minutes to exchange friendly words, and even if they didn't know each other that well, Zoisite had missed him terribly.

Zoisite waited as K-san closed the shop, and then the pair went across the street to an _udon_ noodle restaurant.

"Are you going to tell me your real name today, K-san?" Zoisite teased as they sat down at a table and ordered.

The dark-haired man regarded him gravely. "Wouldn't that take the romance out of our acquaintance?" It was always like this, oblique jokes and sidelong flirtations that perhaps, or perhaps didn't, hint at a deeper interest. Zoisite suddenly felt tired of the way the conversation was heading. From the very first time he met him, he had had an unwavering crush on the man, and after six months of not seeing him at all while his image haunted his mind, he wanted more than the usual banter.

"I missed you," Zoisite admitted, fiddling with his chopsticks.

"Hnm," was the response, and Zoisite felt like a fool. Then he heard, "It was quiet these past few months," and Zoisite imagined that K-san meant, "I missed you too."

Feeling more uplifted, Zoisite asked, "How have you been? You look a little tired."

"I do, do I?" the other man mused. Unexpectedly, he asked, "How old are you, Zoisaito?"

Zoisite was sure he had told him last time, but he answered truthfully, "Seventeen and a half."

"Seventeen and a half, and still your senshi parents restrict you to two outings a month? Surely you aren't satisfied with that."

"Well…no, I'm not," Zoisite admitted. "But there's plenty to do inside the palace, and besides, my brother's only twelve, so—"

"And even though you're five years older than him, you are not allowed any more freedom than he is," K-san said, his voice neutral.

"Well…" Zoisite couldn't think of anything to say to that, and so he sat in embarrassed silence as the food was delivered to their table.

Once they had begun to eat, the storekeeper continued, "You'll come of age in two and a half years. Twenty." Zoisite nodded. "What do you plan to do then?"

"I'll be done with my studies by then. I want to serve Serenity-sama somehow and repay her and her court for everything they've done for me."

"Is that all?" K-san said. "How bland. I'm disappointed." It was the first time K-san had spoken so dismissively to him, and Zoisite found his temper rising.

Green eyes flashed and irrational anger seized him. "There's nothing wrong with my plan. Maybe after I repay my debt of gratitude, I'll do something else. Or maybe I'll have a fantastic career in Serenity-sama's service, while you're still stuck here selling fans. You'll see."

K-san ignored Zoisite's intended slight and laughed through his gray eyes. "You're seventeen and you still require a chaperone. Clearly, the Sailorsenshi don't trust you. Exactly what kind of gratitude are you repaying them for?"

"What do you know?" Zoisite shot back. "You're not the one who lives with them. They didn't save you from a miserable existence at a run-down orphanage." He turned his attention angrily back to his food and slurped the thick noodles, trying his best to calm down and not ruin the precious time he had with K-san.

The shopkeeper reached across the table, touching Zoisite's hand as he put his bowl down.

"K-san?" Zoisite felt a tremor of delight. They never touched. What was the other man doing?

Looking intently at him, K-san murmured in a tone far different from his earlier sardonic one, "If the Sailorsenshi hadn't come for you at the orphanage then, we…" And he trailed off. His light colored eyes bore steadily into Zoisite's.

"What?" Zoisite asked, suddenly curious, caught by K-san's intense gaze and still hyper-aware of the other man's hand on his. "We what?"

K-san withdrew his hand. "Finish your food. We can talk more afterwards."

Zoisite heaved a sigh, but obeyed. Two bowls of noodles were finished off in heavy silence. Zoisite's mind was filled with a tumult of emotion—confusion, resentment, desire, curiosity—and he dared not speak when he couldn't understand his own emotions. As for K-san, God only knew what was on his mind.

The silence persisted as K-san paid for both of them, and it followed the pair back to the fan shop. There, however, in the private back room of the shop, Zoisite broke it, pinpointing where Kunzite had left off.

"If I hadn't been adopted," he said, "I wouldn't have met you." It wasn't a question, but it sounded like one.

"And how do you know that?" K-san challenged calmly, Socratic in his questioning.

Zoisite shrugged. "Because I wouldn't have come to this kind of place on my own, at the orphanage. It was the senshi who insisted on bringing us here the first time, for our education."

"And who says I would have been here if you hadn't been adopted?"

"Why not?" Zoisite asked, a slight frown furrowing his eyebrows. "What the senshi or I did seven years ago had nothing to do with you."

"Are you sure about that?"

Zoisite fell silent, not knowing where K-san was going.

"Let me tell you a story," the shopkeeper said. "Make yourself comfortable." The two sat at the low, square _kotatsu_ table in the middle of the small, mostly empty room, warming their legs in the heated, blanketed warmth.

"Once there was a boy, around your age, perhaps slightly younger. Like you, he didn't have family or friends, but he had memories of a past life, if you believe in such things."

Zoisite nodded in affirmation. The senshi all had past lives, and he'd grown up believing in things like past lives and reincarnation.

"One day, he happened to see a young boy who he recognized as someone from that past life. The younger boy had no family and was raised at an orphanage. Not long after, a woman came to adopt him, but he ran away, into the forest. The older boy had been watching, and waiting for a chance to talk to the younger one. He found the younger boy, and tried to persuade him to leave the orphanage with him, but the younger boy was hesitant. He didn't remember the older boy because through whatever twist of fate, he didn't have memories of his past life.

"In the end, the younger boy returned to the orphanage and was adopted, while the older boy, haunted and unable to give up his acquaintance with the younger boy, watched for an opportunity. He set up a shop in a popular tourist area that he felt the younger boy might come to one day. And one day, he did come, and they met."

K-san's eyes, which had had a far off look as he told his story, locked onto Zoisite's. "Before the younger boy returned to the orphanage to be adopted though, the older boy asked him to remember something."

Zoisite searched his mind but couldn't come up with anything, not even a faint recollection of this meeting that was supposed to have taken place. "What was he supposed to remember?" he asked in a hushed voice, a sliver of worry creeping onto his face.

K-san leaned forward over the table and placed one hand lightly on Zoisite's cheek. "This," he whispered, and kissed Zoisite chastely, briefly.

Zoisite's eyes were wide open in trembling, delighted surprise. "K-san?" he murmured when they parted.

Then his eyes stayed wide open for a different reason entirely, as the memories of their first kiss, their meeting in the cave, his sakura conjury magic, the glowing ball of light the other boy taught him to produce, his resentment and discomfort towards the senshi, and everything that the ginzuishou had veiled from his consciousness flooded back to him in shining clarity. He _remembered_.

"Kunzaito?" he whispered, wide-eyed, at last able to recall the waking dream where he had learned the other boy's name. "Kunzaito-sama?" And then tears flowed from his eyes, and somehow Kunzite was instantly at his side, holding him while he cried. As he soaked the front of Kunzite's kimono with his tears, Zoisite realized that the hollow, gnawing pain he had felt all these years that haunted him at night was from being denied the memory of Kunzite.

"I missed you I missed you," he managed to say as his tears gradually subsided. "I wanted to go with you, not the senshi. But I had to watch out for Shiitake. Stupid little brother." Zoisite smiled tearfully, emotions exhausted. It turned into a troubled frown as he added, "But I still can't remember this past life we had, I'm sorry. And the senshi—Queen Serenity-sama, she used the ginzuishou on me and so then I couldn't even remember meeting you, but I missed you so much…" His eyebrows furrowed and he tugged at a few strands of black hair. "Didn't you have white hair before, Kunzaito-sama?"

Kunzite chuckled, not loosening his arms around Zoisite in the least. "It would be troublesome if the senshi recognized me," he explained. "It's only a wig."

Zoisite was reaching to uncover Kunzite's real hair when a yell, and then the sound of someone banging on the door, screaming, interrupted them. In the background, a deeper voice roared angrily.

A shadow came over Kunzite's features. "Nephrite…" he growled.

* * *

Nephrite had been strolling through Asakusa, minding his own business. Kunzite had come here earlier in the morning as he had done nearly every weekend for the past several years, on the off chance that Zoisite would show up. Nephrite doubted Zoisite would show up; after all, he hadn't made an appearance for the past six months, from what Kunzite had said.

Of course, none of that particularly interested the second Tennou. The kingdom was rebuilding…perhaps not quickly, but adequately, at least, and he had decided to get away for a few hours, relax, perhaps sneak a chance to see his colleague dressed up in traditional human costume running a fan shop like a mundane human. He smirked at the thought.

Kunzite's fan shop was closed when he passed it. It was lunchtime, Nephrite realized, and so he wandered further down the street, wondering what he wanted for lunch, when, gazing toward a nearby ramen shop, he saw the boy.

He recognized him instantly. The coloring was all wrong: the short hair was brown, not blond, and the eyes were also a soft brown, instead of cold blue. The face was still a little chubby with the lingering remnants of childhood, but Nephrite recognized him nonetheless.

Jadeite.

What was he doing here? Where had he been all this time? Did the senshi have any idea of his whereabouts, or his existence, even?

Nephrite unfroze from his shock.

"Jaedaito!" he called.

The boy didn't even look his way, though a few other heads turned briefly. Nephrite changed tactics. "Hey kid," he tried instead, approaching him with his most charming demeanor.

This time the boy saw him and tensed, a wary expression on his face, but he stayed where he was.

"Where are your parents?" Nephrite asked. It was a horrible question to start off with, but under normal circumstances, there really was no easy way for a grown man, a stranger, to approach an adolescent boy. Still, Nephrite wasn't interested in stepping delicately around what he wanted to know.

The boy's eyes narrowed defensively, and with an unexpected pang of welcome nostalgia, Nephrite thought, _"So it is you. Hello, old friend."_

"They're at home. I came here with my older brother."

Nephrite could tell that the boy wasn't lying. Clearly, despite his instincts putting him on alert, the boy still possessed too much naivety to know when to lie. He grinned. He had never associated Jadeite with naivety.

Seeing the stranger grin for no apparent reason, Shiitake took a step back. His instincts were telling him to run, but there was no way he could outrun the man before him. He wished Zoisite were here. But he wasn't, and even though the fan shop was only about a hundred meters away, he didn't think he could get there in time. Like Zoisite had been telling him, it was time for him to be independent, time to grow up some. He summoned his courage.

"What's so funny?" he shot back at the auburn-haired man.

"Nothing at all," answered the stranger. "You just remind me of an old friend of mine." He sighed and held out his hands in a gesture of innocence. "Look, I don't mean any harm. I was just concerned, seeing a kid like you alone."

"Well, thank you for your concern, but my brother's here, so please leave me alone." Shiitake glanced around. There were plenty of people around, so he doubted the stranger would try anything.

"Really? Where is he, if I may ask?"

No, you may not ask, Shiitake wanted to retort, but he trembled at the thought of being so bold toward a man who, as harmless as he was acting, was putting all his senses on high alert. He answered, "He's close, just in the fan shop down that way."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I just passed by that way, and it was closed."

"He's in there. I saw him go back in with his friend after they had lunch."

"His friend?" Realization slowly dawned on Nephrite. Hadn't Kunzite mentioned that Zoisite had some kid brother tagging along after him all the time?

"His friend owns the fan shop. What's wrong?" Shiitake asked when he saw the thoughtful look on the other man's face.

"I believe I know this friend you're talking about. Why don't we go take a look?" The stranger put a hand on his shoulder, but Shiitake shrugged it off.

"I don't want to. Oniisama doesn't want me around when he's with his friend."

Nephrite nearly chuckled. Oniisama? Zoisite was getting some high respect. It would be a riot when Jadeite recovered his memories. He cleared his throat. "So his friend has never met you, I take it."

"No. I've seen him from a distance, but we've never been introduced." That explained why Kunzite had never mentioned seeing Jadeite.

"Well. That's awfully thoughtless of your brother. I'll introduce you, what do you say? What's your name?"

The boy still eyed him warily, but responded, "Shiitake." Nephrite found the name mildly amusing, but refrained from commenting.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

Shiitake didn't budge. "But I don't know you."

Nephrite's patience was running out. Charming people was his strong point, but for whatever reason, probably because underneath all the layers, this was Jadeite he was dealing with, the boy wasn't being lured at all.

He grit his teeth and then took a deep breath. "Look, Ja—kid, you don't understand, but this is important."

"No!" The boy stomped his foot childishly and set off in the opposite direction. Nephrite grabbed his arm.

"Let me go!" He shook his arm furiously as he pulled. Several heads were turning in their direction. Nephrite cursed as he held onto the boy's arm.

He turned a frustrated but charismatic smile onto the bystanders and said loudly, "Sorry everyone. My brother's being a big pain today."

The people laughed, smiled, went back to their own business, shaking their heads when the young willful boy screamed, "He's lying! He's not my brother! I don't even know h—" Nephrite twisted Shiitake's arm behind him, and clamped a hand over Shiitake's mouth when the boy gasped in pain.

"Listen," he warned in a low, disarmingly pleasant voice, "I could kill you now, right now, right here, in front of everyone. But I'd rather not. Just be quiet and do what I say. Understand?"

Shiitake nodded, hardly daring to breathe. He needed to reach his brother…

"Now let's go." Nephrite let go of the boy's arm and put a hand on his shoulder. The pair walked down the street towards the fan shop. Just as they approached it, Nephrite heard the boy yell, and simultaneously, felt a sudden pain in his groin. He doubled over. The boy had caught him off guard with a quick spinning roundhouse kick to the midsection, except he had clearly aimed slightly lower…

Nephrite glanced up to see Shiitake running to the door of the fan shop, banging desperately on it. "Oniisama, oniisama! Help! Oniisama!"

Nephrite stood up as the pain subsided. Before the boy had time to look even more terrified, Nephrite was before him, holding him suspended in the air by the front of his winter jacket. "How dare you!" he shouted, infuriated.

The door suddenly unlocked and slid open. Kunzite glowered at Nephrite, while peering from behind Kunzite, Zoisite saw, to his shock, Shiitake being threatened by a tall, handsome young man. He instantly hated him.

But before Zoisite could make a homicidal attempt at Nephrite and save his little brother, however, Kunzite had pulled Nephrite and Shiitake inside and slid the door shut.

Zoisite was aware of suddenly being at the center of the auburn-haired man's attention. Even if he hadn't caught a glimpse of the hatred on the man's face, he was sure he could have felt waves of animosity coming his way. He felt only too willing to return his feelings. It certainly wasn't his main concern, however.

"Shiitake!" Zoisite ran forward and caught the boy as Nephrite dropped him.

"Oniisama!" Zoisite gave Shiitake a reassuring hug as he finally raised his eyes and met the glaring man's anger with his own.

"Who are you?" he demanded at the same time Kunzite barked, "Nephrite, explain!"

Zoisite turned a puzzled look on Kunzite, but Kunzite's attention was on his second-in-command.

Nephrite was gazing at Zoisite with an expression that suggested he would have liked nothing better than to stab Zoisite with whatever was handy at the moment and mince his body into a thousand pieces, and grill those pieces to a solid, black charcoal. Backing his intense hatred was an undeniable aura of power, and it was that, even more so than the raw emotion, than scared Zoisite. But only for a second.

He felt Kunzite step closer behind him, and he gathered his own strength and stood up. He didn't know what the other man had against him, but he wouldn't back down like a coward, especially not in front of Kunzite. A smile, perhaps more of a smirk, quirked his lips when he heard Kunzite say in deadly calm warning, "You are not to lay a hand on him, or try anything. Understood, Nephrite?"

The auburn-haired man, Nephrite, subdued his hatred into a look of contempt, which he turned onto Kunzite. "I'd like to hear you say that if he'd killed _you_. Oh, my mistake. A flea would never kill the dog."

"What?" Had he killed this man before, in his past life? Zoisite juggled the idea, and surprisingly, found that he was not uncomfortable with it. "I don't think I'd mind killing you again, if this is the way you speak to Kunzaito-sama!" he retorted.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Zoisite, quiet," Kunzite said, and reluctantly, Zoisite obeyed. "Leave your petty quarrel for later," commanded the first king, addressing Nephrite, "and tell me the meaning of _this_." He gestured to Shiitake, who had risen to his feet and was looking wide-eyed between the three of them.

"Are you blind, or am I going crazy?" Nephrite placed a hand on his hip and waited, fixing his gaze pointedly on the young boy.

Kunzite looked back to the boy, Zoisite's adopted brother, who he had generally ignored all these years. He'd never actually met the boy, he realized as he gazed absently at him. And promptly regretted his negligence.

Though he made no noise, Kunzite's eyes widened in surprise. Then his vocal cords unclenched, and he said, disbelievingly, "Jaedaito?"

"No, he's my brother, Shiitake," Zoisite tried to explain, confused.

Kunzite stared down at the bewildered boy, not quite believing his eyes. "Shiitake, look at me," he said. His tone commanded obedience, and accordingly, the brown-haired boy looked at the one who had spoken.

"Jaedaito…" Kunzite shook his head as assurance returned to him. To Zoisite, he said, "He's Jaedaito, one of the Shitennou who served the Dark Kingdom after betraying Endymion. Just like you are."

Silence. Zoisite could have sworn that the world had stopped spinning and that he hadn't heard right. "He's…I'm…what?"

"The four of us are the Shitennou. Surely even if you don't have your memories, you'd heard of us? Or have the senshi kept even that knowledge from you?"

Zoisite looked to Shiitake, who looked just as uncomprehending has he felt, and then slowly, back to Kunzite again. He even spared a look at Nephrite—and immediately regretted it when the auburn-haired young man smirked condescendingly back at him.

He remembered, of course he remembered the story of the Shitennou, the traitors of the Silver Millennium. But how could he have been one of them?

"Kunzaito-sama, please explain."

* * *

Generally, there are things that everyone accepts, like the sky is blue, or one plus one equals two. Then there are things that are scientifically proven and accepted, even if not entirely understood by everyone; for example, a potassium atom has one valence electron. Then there are things like religion, that have little to no proof and on the whole, require a fantastic leap of faith. Who's to say there's one god, or eight million gods, or no god at all?

Who's to say the Zoisite who was born in Crystal Tokyo and adopted by Haruka and Michiru was the same Zoisite who was once a part of the Shitennou? Logically, Zoisite could see what Kunzite was saying, but comprehending it was beyond him at the moment, and accepting it was on another level altogether.

Nephrite snorted in derision. "Give it up, Kunzaito. You're wasting your time. The Sailorsenshi have completely brainwashed him."

"No they haven't!" Zoisite shouted, tossing Nephrite a dirty look. He continued, more softly, more hesitantly, addressing Kunzite, "I want to believe you…I mean…I believe you're telling the truth, but I just…I can't understand it. Why don't I remember any of it?" His face crumpled with the effort of remembering something, anything, of this past life Kunzite had briefly summarized. Failing to come up with any semblance of a recollection, he felt disappointed, empty. Tears threatened at the back of his eyes, but he blinked them back. As though he'd cry in front of Nephrite! And how disappointed must Kunzite be with him now?

Shiitake, meanwhile, was struggling in a different way. It sounded to him like a fairy tale—either a very wonderful one, or a very horrible one. To have power, be grown up, be Zoisite's equal…To the young adolescent, it was frightening in a wonderful, otherworldly way. But equally, to fight the Sailorsenshi who raised him, to follow a cause that was not Serenity-sama's…It was hard to wrap his mind around.

"Can you prove it?" Shiitake asked. "Can…can you give me power?"

If Zoisite hadn't been wondering the same thing, he might have felt self-righteous enough to scold the boy.

"Nephrite." Kunzite nodded his head. "The kurozuishou."

Sighing, Nephrite pulled out a long, black, faceted crystal. It fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.

"Kurozuishou?" Zoisite asked, looking curiously at the object.

Nephrite explained to the younger boy, ignoring his former antagonist, "See, Shiitake, normally when we force power into people, they become youma. I doubt the same would happen to you, being who you were, but we're not going to take chances. If you use this, it should return you to who you were relatively painlessly, memories and all."

He made to hand it to Jadeite, but Kunzite stopped him. "Give it to Zoisite," the senior king said. "You know he's far more adept at crystal manipulation than Jadeite ever was."

The look Nephrite gave Zoisite was one of anger and bitterness. He sneered, "There was a time you killed just to have this crystal in your hand, you know." And he tossed it disdainfully up into the air.

"Shut up, Nefuraito," Zoisite snapped, and thoroughly sick of the other man's attitude, snatched the crystal as it came back down. The auburn-haired man just gave him a cold, haughty stare.

Zoisite grasped the crystal close to his chest. It felt warm in his bare hand.

"We don't tell the senshi about this, right?" Shiitake asked, diverting everyone's attention.

"Do that, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life," Nephrite answered.

"Okay," the boy replied. And he smiled a very un-Jadeite-like smile, the pure smile of a twelve-year old.

It was no wonder Jadeite had completely slipped under the senshi's radar, Nephrite marveled. Young Jadeite was completely unlike the cold, ruthless, friendless man he remembered from the Dark Kingdom. If the kurozuishou worked as they had calculated though, that would soon change.

A cheerful melody played from Zoisite's pocket, and Zoisite pulled out his cell phone, frowning. He'd lost track of time. "Hello? Ami-san? Sorry, I forgot to call you. Yes, we're both fine…We need to leave now? But…it's only two-thirty-eight…" Zoisite looked helplessly at Kunzite and murmured, "I don't want to go…" Then he became agitated as he listened to the senshi at the other end. Loudly, he said into the phone, "Nothing. …Fine, okay, five minutes. Whatever."

He hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. "Kunzaito-sama, I don't want to leave," he appealed. He finally remembered what the ginzuishou had blocked from his mind, and he knew, he could feel, that he was on the edge of discovering and remembering so much more. His life until now had been happy, more or less, but how ready he was to give that up, if only he could spend more time with Kunzite-sama in return.

"You must go," Kunzite replied steadfastly, though Zoisite saw regret in his grey eyes. "The kurozuishou, by its very nature, is attuned to the ginzuishou, and it'll work best if the ginzuishou is close by."

Zoisite already hated showing weakness to Nephrite, but he couldn't stop himself from grabbing Kunzite's sleeve and saying, "Can't you take us with you? Isn't that what should have happened all those years ago? Don't you want us to come with you?" He couldn't bear the thought of being separated from Kunzite for another three, four months, knowing what he knew now.

"The senshi must not become suspicious yet, as they will if you linger here any longer." Kunzite steered Zoisite towards the door, Shiitake and Nephrite following.

"I don't care! I want to stay with you. I'll help you rebuild the kingdom, or do whatever you want to do. Please, Kunzaito-sama."

"And betray me to the senshi afterwards?"

"But…" Zoisite was about to protest, but the words died in his throat. "I…"

"'I wouldn't do such a thing?' Your loyalties are split now, Zoisaito. You know that as well as I do. Until you find yourself again, you can be of no use to me."

The words hurt, but Zoisite couldn't bear the thought of letting go of the man he knew he'd loved for several lifetimes.

"But Kunzaito-sama!"

"When you regain your memories and powers, you'll know where to find me. I will wait for you." Kunzite let his fingers graze briefly over Zoisite's cheek, but would allow himself no more liberties while the other two members of the Shitennou watched. He sent Zoisite out the door, with Shiitake following close behind.


End file.
